What’s up (or down) with gas prices? Curiouser and curiouser that the laws of supply and demand are working in conjunction with an American midterm election and an American vacation season (up in summer 2006) and an American disaster (up in response to Hurricane Rita). I’m just saying ….
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said this: “Liberal – noun – someone who’s mind is so open their brains have fallen out.” I thought it was funny that this was on the back of a Subaru Outback which is a car that I associate with more liberal thinking folks for some reason. But then I thought that I’d like to get a bumper sticker that says, “Conservative – noun – someone who’s mind is so closed their brains have begun to rot for lack of sunlight.” I know that sounds sort of juvenile and unkind. Perhaps it is. But I want to do it because I want to bring to light just how juvenile and lacking in grace the political discourse in our country has become. It needs to be pointed out that it is not disgraceful to be a liberal. In point of fact, we need equal amounts of conservatives and liberals to run this country in a manner which is beneficial to everyone. But I have never one time, not once in my whole 40+ years of existence heard a liberal put down a conservative for their conservativeness. Liberals may challenge conservative ideas, but they do not make fun of conservatives for their very existence. On the other hand, when lacking substance, conservatives see no problem with attacking liberals for who they are and putting them down just for being. If we are indeed a democracy, that’s a huge problem.
I saw another bumper sticker several days ago that said something to the effect of: “4,000 babies a day are sacrificed to the god of convenience.” Well, then, that’s the other problem with our general discourse now. Everyone has the answer to questions that aren’t being asked. I thought it awfully kind of this person to let us know who the gods of this age are. I was equally glad that this person is so sure that s/he knows who is worshipping there and how. I wondered if this person had ever been in the position of having to choose. Whether s/he (and for some reason I think this person who is so sure must be a “he”) could ever understand that for most mothers who have been in that position, convenience is the very last thing they are thinking about. They are wondering how both they and their baby will eat. Live. Sleep in dry, clean beds. Some of them are worrying about whether or not the mother or the baby will be subjected to terrifying abuse. But I guess that all of those questions do properly fall under the heading of convenience. I wonder what falls under the heading of necessity?
