The overriding and undergirding aim of Life Affirm™ is to promote not only a respect for human life, but to foster a true affection for all of our fellows, our brothers and sisters around the globe.

At the outset it must be said that, if one truly cares for humanity, one must, cannot escape the need to, also possess a deep, abiding care and devotion, to and for nature, the Earth itself, the very environment which allows us to exist. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is impossible without a nourishing environment. Put another way, a hostile ecological system, one in which the necessities of life are either in short supply, or contaminated, inhibits or outright disallows life itself.

Let me also hasten to add that this in no way means that the Earth is more important than human life, and the enhancment of it. What it does mean is that the two are inextricably entertwined. Statements by destructively zealous "environmentalists," to the effect that the Earth, i.e. anthropomorphised "Nature," with a capital "N," is more important than, would be better off without, mankind, are not intellectually worth the paper on which they are written, or the sound waves which carry them in spoken form, and therefore do not warrant or deserve rebuttal.

As to the question of the origins of humanity, and therefore our importance, vis-a-vis the Earth and the rest of the universe, I leave that for a latter entry, under the likely heading of guiding principles, or something of the sort, to be included as a subsection of this "About" page.

John Spencer Yantiss

After a seven-year hiatus, due to severe personal crises and losses, Life Affirm™ returns to champion human life, in all its wondrous varieties, and at all its stages, from conception to the most venerable of ages. If you would like your organisation listed, please e-mail details to Life Affirm™. As a child I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, but for most of my life got away with little to no symptoms. For almost twenty years I had worked out wtih weights five to six days a week, was "cut" and much stronger than most people ten and even twenty years younger; however, in 2001 I pulled a muscle in my abdomen, and grudgingly decided to stop working out for a few weeks. In less than a month I could barely walk. In the back of my mind I really knew what was wrong, but did not want to admit it. One Sunday morning I started to get up to go to work, and fell flat on the floor—my left leg would not fully extend. Next day I went to the doctor's office.

Without going into all of the details about re-diagnosis after so many years, initially I was put on Prednisone, a steroid, and a double-edged drug, blessing and curse. Seemingly miraculously it did away with both pain and swelling, almost in one day! Nonetheless, as anyone else who has ever had to take that medication knows, it also attacked my body. Some of the side effects are known, and some are not, but one thing is known beyond question, and that is that, taken daily, over time, in dosages above 5 Mg, it breaks down ALL body tissues, inside and out. In less than six months I had skin cancer on my left cheek; in less than a year cataracts developed in my eyes; in a year and a half, when attempting to begin working out again, my right rotator cuff tore; my skin became like tissue paper, like someone twenty or thirty years older than I; there were other developements, but, to put it mildly, my life-style, the things I was able to do, changed dramatically.

Because of the skin cancer, I could no longer enjoy being outside in the sun; I could no longer work out anything close to what I had before. Prior to the onset of chronic RA symptoms, I was an avid "beach bum," an enthusiastic sometime hunter (and do not get excited, all you Bambi prjectors, I did not hunt simply to acquire a trophy), an ardent, sometime fresh-water bass fisher, and one who loved to ride horseback when possible.

Several more body punches followed over the next several years:

• I had been in business with my stepfather, and in 2004 he died.
• I wound up going to New Orleans looking for work, only to have a job I was scheduled to begin, September 1st, 2005, blown away by Hurricane Katrina.
• In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, almost everything I owned was looted or oterhwise stolen, including
  • Car
  • Computer
  • Martin D-35 guitar (of 20-plus years)

The journey, attempting to recover materially has been long and hard (unemployed and homeless for almost two years following the hurricanes), and continues—in January, 2009 I was laid off from the full-time job I finally found in 2007 in New York. After all the catastrophic events to come my way, I decided to revive Life Affirm™, to see if I could somehow, in the midst of my own continuing struggles, do something, anything, to help others who are going through what are often much worse, life-long conditions and events. In the coming days and weeks I shall move this brief preamble to a "Biography" section or page, with much more detailed information, and my own Christian testimony. To anyone familiar with Jesus's parable about the "prodigal son," found in the Gospel According to St. Luke, chapter 15, verses 11 through 32, you already know the gist of my own story!

John Spencer Yantiss