My Apologies

It has been an absurd amount of time since I have written an entry. Not to say that I have not sat at a computer, opened up the “add new post” page and started one, realize I was just yammering and not very coherently, take a break, come back at the end of the day, decide I’d rather just go home and watch bad television, and do just that.

I think I have a problem with believing that any of my points have any true validity. It blows my mind that people even read this thing, aside from friends who know who I am. I don’t think of it so much as a self esteem issue. Perhaps it’s the idea that there is some sort of universal truth out there that I’m constantly trying to find, so obviously my opinion can’t be it. Not to mention, when you question everything, you inevitably begin to question yourself.

Anywhoozle, I was listening to the radio yesterday on my whopping one mile car ride from work to home, and a conservative radio host (a man) was talking about a girl suing her college for not letting her hold a pro-life rally on campus. The college didn’t let her, said something about it being related to a hate crime, and so she sued. And she won. Although it wasn’t about the money. But I’m pretty sure she still took it.

And the conservative radio host went on and on about how “pro abortionists” (never pro-choice) get to say whatever they want, whenever they want. That colleges are filled with pro abortionist propaganda, and that some have free abortions right there on site. So why is it wrong that this poor girl just wants to pass out flyers?

I was home by now, so I stopped the car, sat there awhile, and I tried to understand what this man was saying. I knew I was angry, but I wasn’t quitesure why. It couldn’t be the point that he was pro-life because I really am okay with people choosing their own paths in life. I respect and applaud any woman who gets into the situation of an unplanned pregnancy, takes time to educate herself, looks at both sides of the coin, and decides she’s going to have the child and raise it in a happy, healthy home.

I’m okay with people taking time out of their day to pass out pamphlets filled with information that they deem vital. Whether it is something I believe in or not, I may even be envious of the fact that they believe in something so much they stand on street corners, leaving themselves vulnerable to the ridicule of strangers.

And, although I am far from conservative, I can empathize with the difficulty of being one on most American college campuses.    

So I sat there still, stewing. Trying to put my finger on my anger. Finally I tried to envision what this man was saying. A pro-life advocate, quietly standing in a college campus square, passing out flyers, and telling people to have a nice day whether they took the publication or not. The idea of this was quite a 180 from what I have come to see in our sprawling metropolis as it relates to pro-life protestors.

She herself said she was having a rally. You don’t have to go to the college for permission to simply pass out leaflets. I’ve seen women with their children (who are strangely not in school on a Wednesday morning) filling the streets of downtown Atlanta, with posters of aborted fetuses, chanting and yelling together. A friend who works at a women’s health clinic is in the middle of a 40 day protest rally going on outside of her offices, where women are being harassed going in and out. Of course, this clinic is for all medical issues, yes, including abortion, but what does it say to uninsured women who are going to this facility for an annual gynecological exam to be called out as baby killers?

I then tried to think of pro-choice rallies. I haven’t seen nearly as many. It could be because I haven’t been looking hard enough. The ones I’ve seen have mainly been held at government buildings. You know, the place where these laws are made.

But could you imagine if “pro abortionists” did the same things as those who advocate pro-life? Screaming and shouting outside of a church during Tuesday evening Bible study? Holding up signs of women with the degrees they acquired because they decided they would rather finish college than continue with an unplanned pregnancy? Or maybe posters of women in therapy for rape, crying, with a baby bump under their dress? What would one think if a group of people who are pro-choice filled the streets of the private sector to let out their message?

This is where I found the source of my frustration.

Perhaps there isn’t a grand universal truth, that I will, undoubtedly, search for until my last dying breath. But I do know there are some universal generalizations that can be made of humankind. A major one being: Not everyone is going to have the same opinion as you, but everyone is going to believe their opinion is right. This does not mean you respect a person with differing views any less.  

I would never ask a person with conflicting views to change his or her mind. But I would ask, nicely, to change how one chooses to approach a situation. If you believe in your heart of hearts that abortion is wrong, a sin, and whoever does it is going to hell, then please do not ever have one. I will never ask you to. And, really, the only person who probably would ask is the future father.

And if you feel many are uninformed about abortion, pass out pamphlets. Those who are interested will read. Those who aren’t will throw it away. You did your job. You tried to save them from eternal hell-fire.

Jesus never bombed a clinic to get his point across. Nor did he murder someone because he thought it was for the greater good. (I know these are extreme situations and very few ralliers fit into this realm, but these situations also have extreme consequences.) From what I learnt, love and patience for others were a constasnt throughout his teaching. Neither of which, for the record, are the same as abusing someone with hate speech and graphic pictures because they are doing something you do not agree with. Nor is it guilting someone into becoming a mother by placing false advertising (“pregnant? confused? we can help.”) and then forcing her to hear the heartbeat of a fetus and see it flickering on an ultrasound.

The first time I saw and heard my daughter’s heartbeat was probably the happiest day of my life, but I could not imagine the utter confusion and turmoil this would cause a young woman with nowhere to go and no one to support her.

I hope people realize that pro-choice means just that. I believe 100% that everyone has a choice in what they do with their lives, and to live with those consequences, whatever they may be. This is the reason I believe that, while many of these methods are flawed morally and ethically based on your own scripture, one has the right to act as they wish.

But please do not try to equate pro-choice advocates actions’ to those of prolife ralliers. One would hope that a choice is a rational, informed decision. Very few ask the same of a calling from God.

~Krystle (can I get a welcome back?)

*please not I am only speaking of those who rally for pro-life.

~ by nubianxess on October 2, 2009.