The unique and unrepeatable light that each of them brings into the world could so easily have been snuffed out in a country where there are 1.3 million abortions each year. I often remember that Leo and Zelie are survivors who were exponentially more likely to be aborted than adopted. If I did, you probably wouldn’t buy the book.Colin MacIver offers some compelling stories and arguments that may improve the way you share the pro-life message with your peers, family, and anyone you encounter.Īs the father of two adopted children, my thoughts about abortion and the way forward for the pro-life movement have developed significantly in the past decade. And, oh, yes, I have not given you the name of the man both Baker and I think was Pickle. On the other hand, if an invasion by Charles had succeeded in reinstating the Stuart dynasty, the slow progress of the United Kingdoms toward constitutional democracy would have been interrupted, with results we can only speculate upon.Ī turncoat Pickle was. Pickle eventually died in an alleged “hunting accident.” For what did he sacrifice his honor and his life? Like him, I do not believe the Highlands could have withstood a second purging. This format allows for a steady unwinding of the history of the second aborted rising while also allowing for comic and romantic interludes. To bring out the story of Pickle, I have an historical figure, a grandson of the great Daniel Defoe, Daniel Baker, travel to the Highlands to interview one of the last living survivors of the ’45. I cannot conclusively prove this so I wrote my account of PIckle’s actions not as history but as fiction. He believed that a second rebellion could fail and that the subsequent punishment of clans in arms would bring a retribution so great it would amount to genocide. My belief, my big idea, is that, while not discounting a mercenary motive, I have discovered a more honorable intent for Pickle turning his coat. Those few authors who have deigned to mention Pickle have concluded that he acted from hope of gain. Chris Cooper played him in the 2007 movie “Breach.” It was while watching this movie that I recurred to the eighteenth century agent, code name Pickle, a man deep in the counsels of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who failed a second attempt at rebellion in Scotland after the ’45. He was caught in 2002 and placed in solitary confinement. Perhaps most difficult to explain is the case of Robert Hanssen, a senior CIA officer, who for twenty years sold US classified data to the Russians. Was Benedict Arnold simply a disgruntled subordinate or was he unfairly passed over and therefore returned to his primary allegiance? Approaching the present, we have the English public school graduates who gave UK national information to the Soviets for ideological reasons from the 1930s to the 1950s. As we move forward, motivation appears more complex, or we simply know more about the actors. Roland had his Ganelon Arthur his Mordred. Throughout history and legend, there have been traitors and turncoats. Is there ever a time when there could be more to the word than that? Author Colin MacIver muses on this subject in his Big Idea post for his novel Turncoat. There are few words more laden with negative association than “traitor” - it’s an apparent repudiation of country and of honor.
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