Dreams of a Lifetime: How Who We Are Shapes How We Imagine Our Future

Abstract

a problem, suggest a solution, and to act— even when it is unpopular—toward prevention strategies that are known to work in less-resourced areas. This is a lesson that has implications far beyond infant mortality and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the thing that struck me most about Babylost is that it is not an academic book per se. It can be easily read by the public, by someone with lived experiences, or by clinicians, and it is filled with data that are both accessible and contextualized. It would be completely irresponsible not to also mention that intersectionality is apparent in the book even though one might think that would be eliminated by the alphabetical nature of the organization of the content. In fact, the book is cross referenced, and personal stories, anecdotes, photos, and quotes are interspersed throughout so that it reads as a cogent narrative, despite the fact that it can be read by each letter of the alphabet and have the content stand on its own. Despite the complexity and multifactorial causes of infant mortality, I finished reading Casper’s work feeling activated and refreshed to continue the important work of safely propagating our species and supporting the people courageous enough to venture on the journey to parenthood regardless of pregnancy outcomes. Because inherently embedded in Casper’s work is the notion that regardless of race, ethnicity, religiosity, spiritualism, creed, sexual, gender or other orientation/identity, a society that is unable to shepherd its newest citizens to this plane and protect them in their first years of life should alarm us all and should require the attention of everyone. If ‘‘the arc of moral justice is long, but bends toward justice,’’ as Martin Luther King stated, then we need to decide where on that trajectory we can act and then do so. The calls to action as well as the summary of historical data in Babylost should motivate us all to act in the face of need.