To Wax Political for a Moment...

There is an anti-abortion organization that has taken up protesting outside of where my classes are held.  For the past two days, images of aborted fetuses have been erected in comparison with images of the holocaust.  They're in the free speech area of the university - and they're being sponsored by an RSO.  They can be there and they can display these images.  

Yesterday, at the same time as local elementary schools were letting out 5, 6, 7 year olds (okay, all elementary school aged children), this organization thought it appropriate to drive a truck bearing these images throughout the town.  They went beyond the university - the presumed target of the protest - and happened to pick the same time that elementary schools let their children out nationwide.  "We weren't specifically targeting 5 year olds" was the response I received upon challenging the ethics of doing so.

Protests like these - specifically those that attempt to engage the entire community, regardless of whether that engagement is appropriate - get my dander up.  It's not so much the issue - in fact it's an issue that I remain constantly torn about - as their methods.  My daughter goes to a conservative Catholic elementary school.  Oftentimes I even shudder at how conservative it is.  She takes the bus to and from school every day from our church parking lot.  The bus is owned by the school and is driven by one of the parents with a CDL.  At school she is not allowed to watch anything rated higher than PG.  In order for her to watch even PG, I had to sign a blanket permission slip at the start of the year.  She exists ( at least when it comes to school ) in a bubble.  Yesterday, as she got off her bus, she was met with these images driving past the parking lot.  

Again, the issue itself is something with which I continue to struggle.  My own beliefs dictate that life is sacred and that I would NEVER have an abortion.  So, in my own life, I am pro-life.  I would never advocate that another individual have an abortion.  However, I would also NEVER want my beliefs forced upon another individual in the same way that I would never want someone else's beliefs forced upon me.  I would (and do) support any woman's informed choice in the matter.  

I've been attacked a couple of times recently for calling my daughter a choice.  Perhaps I misspoke.  She is my daughter, the most important person in my life.  HAVING HER was the best choice I ever made.  

My lunch is now over and I have to go back to work.  

xxx ooo