Thursday, October 11, 2007

Change

Couple of thoughts (which will go out not fully formed, as I am in a rush):
Racism: article in the WSJ today about school re-districting in Milton, MA (affluent, whitish 'burb of Boston); some parents up in arms that their children were re-districted to a)the "black" school or b)the "low score" school; depends on whom you ask. Local blacks "deeply offended." My first reaction was "but it ISN'T racism--it's all about the test scores; if the school were good, ppl would be busting down the doors."

But then I remembered another article re: Berkeley? Where some white families were leaving schools because of competition from Asian students (schools were "too smart"). So... which is it?

I am reminded of my grandmother discussing one of my cousins and commenting "She's smart... but not TOO smart" (I am the black sheep of my family, mind you, for reasons alien to me...)


Second thought: a memory popped into my head this afternoon after reading a review of Kaye's documentary "Lake of Fire." My father, who was living with me at the time (after a stroke or two), and I signed up to protect abortion clinics. We went to the first day of training--learning all about what we would be doing, who our "opponents" were (some were well-known regulars), etc. At one point, we were asked to play the part of anti-abortionists and, apparently, we played our parts too well (I had just gotten off active military duty and believed that realism would help the training, so I put my heart into it). We were never asked back.

Today, as noted, I was reading the review of the documentary which, apparently, included b&w footage of a doctor sifting through the remnants of an aborted foetus to make sure he got everything; the camera lingers on a "perfectly formed hand and part of a face." I cried in my office; indeed, I am holding back tears just THINKING about a documentary that I have not seen.

Sure: I support a woman's right to choose (just as I support your right to kill yourself), but...less and less. California just passed a law disallowing smoking in a car with children in it. How different is that? Just because THOSE tykes escaped the womb they get special consideration vis-a-vis adults? I rather doubt I will get into the fray (it is really not my style), but I find myself sympathizing with the Pope (who recently came out against foetal research)--how strange is THAT?!

Having children--especially girl children--changes a man (logical fallacy: it changed ME--I cannot speak for the rest of you). My daughters' preciousness--at least to me--is uncapturable, ineffable. Juxtaposing their faces with the "part of a face" of an aborted daughter makes me quite literally a little bit sick. My whole raison d'etre, really, is to protect (and maybe to serve, cop-boy), and abortion speaks to failure at the very outset.

So, maybe the women who never asked me back to help protect clinics were onto something...

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