Perspective

On the recommendation of friends, my wife and I have checked out the show “Switched at Birth”, I’m not here to give a review (although so far we’ve found it interesting). I was caught a little off guard at my reaction to the show.

If you are unfamiliar with the show, it revolves around the revelation that two girls, who are now 16, were switched at birth (hence the title of the show). The two families are have a rough start trying to figure out what this means to them and their respective daughters. But what really blew me away was how the parents of one of the girls immediately seemed to assume ownership of their biological daughter, trying to weigh in on decisions about how to raise her, and even considered pursuing their legal options to have her real parent’s parental rights removed. This struck me as down right evil.

Let me preface that with, I in no way know how I would react to such a thing, at present it is unthinkable that this amazing little girl isn’t mine, especially when she is being really stubborn :). But it bothered me, and it bothered me that it bothered me. And I think I know why, it took awhile, and I think it was the Holy Spirit who revealed it, but the reason it bothered me so much was, because I’m adopted.

Every time I saw the way the girls on the show reacted to their parents insensitivity, I could see myself in their shoes. Their sense of security shattered, always question what could have been, and who they really were. And yes I know it’s a TV show, but when I was younger these questions and doubts were a part of my life.

God has guided me through a lot of these twists and turns, and there’s still a ways to go. But seeing this all again has reminded me that regardless of the toughness adoption brings to life, I was and am awesomely blessed to have been adopted by two truly amazing parents.