Editorial March 15, 1999 Issue

When childbirth becomes new birth

Mary Metzner Trammell

In the center of a table at the French cafe, a three-week-old baby lay in her infant seat, sleeping. Her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother sat around quietly talking. One or two wake-up coos from the baby, though, and grandma scooped the little one into her arms, while the mamma and great-grandma murmured French endearments and giggled as each new expression came over the baby's face. It was an almost holy scene—four generations of family love.

Any spiritual lesson-learning constitutes a kind of "birth."

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