My Truth

Recent developments in the Abortion Movement have left many people, including me, confused.  Trying to do a fact check on exactly what the State of New York now has on their books is difficult.   I found at https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/new-york-abortions-birth/ a reasonable explanation of what has happened in New York.

It does not calm my heart.  In fact, it made me cry.

Recently I was in a discussion with a woman who identified as 'pro choice' but was concerned about women being told the truth about fetal development in the womb.  My problem with her concern is that it sends a message: women are not strong enough to hear the truth about what goes on inside the womb during a pregnancy.  I suspect that the real fear is that women who are given all the information about their pregnancy will opt out of an abortion, choose to carry the human inside of them to term and then either give it up for adoption or raise it themselves.  In other words, the choice they might make is not the choice that certain organizations want them to make.  Thus, it is not a good idea for them to have an ultrasound, hear the fetal heartbeat, be given information about the capacity of the human they are carrying to feel pain during the procedure and the possible need for them to receive mental health support after having an abortion.

This worry, this willingness to protect women from their fragile emotional selves, flies in the face of the entire "Woman Warrior" scenario popularized by the media, FB Memes and the Lean In Movement.  We are either strong enough to hear the truth or we are not.  We either need to be protected from our own fragility or we are not.  Pick one, but don't tell me how women can do anything from govern a country to play in the NFL as long as you don't show them pictures of what the child looks like at 22 weeks of life.

The Women's Movement has gone off the beam and lost its way in the weeds of contradiction.  I rarely pay attention to 'Leading Feminists' today because their faulty logic and their inability to speak to nuance of the human condition hurts my ears.  Once again, at the ripe old age of 63, I am on the outside looking in when it comes to women in the world.  I see our difference from men and I applaud it.  I understand that some women do not want to be mothers but want to have sex.  I get it that some women are physically attracted to both men and women or to women alone.  What I fail to understand is why the majority of the left seems to think we are dumb bunnies that need to be protected from the harsh realities of the world on the one hand, and given the keys to the White House on the other hand.

I wish there was no abortion.  I also understand that the legality of abortion has been codified in such a way that I doubt it will ever be criminalized.  I am not sure I WANT it to be criminalized.  What I am hoping for is a return to common sense, to a balance that makes the ending of a human life the last possible choice a woman has to make.  I am hoping for an advancement in science that would allow a woman to terminate a pregnancy without killing a child, thereby guaranteeing an adoptive mother and father the chance to add to their family in a beautiful way.    I doubt that will happen in my lifetime and I am not even sure of the ethics around that idea but at this point I would welcome any solution that did not end in the death of a child so that a woman can continue her life in the way she wishes.

Ultimately I would hope that all humans, men and women, would move away from a subjective philosophy that puts themselves first rather than seeing themselves as a wonderfully small part of a glorious whole.  I would love to see a movement begin that put God, family, society first on the list with the Almighty ME and MY Fulfillment fourth or fifth on the list.  I would love to be in a neighborhood filled with children and the elderly and the generation in between all interacting and living, not necessarily in peace and harmony but in reality.

When I was little, there were wonderful older couples around me.  Mrs. Chappelle taught me to bake cookies after my first independent attempt tasted like rubber butterscotch. Mrs. Rhodes always bought my Campfire Girl Mints.  My first babysitting job (50 cents an hour, people.  Yes I am old) was in my neighborhood for Mrs. Hardly's 8 month old.  The Ward's down the street had 12 kids, the Grey's had seven,  the place was hopping with kids and adults.  Mr. Tompkins was 91 and lived with his daughter and son-in-law, and would take a walk every day in a suit and a hat.  Sometimes, I would walk next to him and he would tell me stories about being a cowboy in Montana.  I found out, after he passed away, that he had never been to Montana and you know what?  I did not care.  The stories were great and he let me tell him that I had a dragon living under my house.

Today, because of a variety of causes, I have to INVITE kids to come trick or treat at Halloween.

Today, I have been told that a Catholic ministry dealing with the Domestic Church is for husbands, wives and children which (of course) completely ignores their obligation to people like me that is expressly spelled out in the Catechism.

We have lost of sense of humor, we have lost our sense of taste, we have lost our sense of true self realization and replaced it with the idea that the only thing that truly matters is whether or not WE are HAPPY.

I feel sad.

Pray for me.