I'd first like to acknowledge the fact that the Snuggie is an abomination. It is also, however, like the 10 pound hamburger that you thought would be awesome to eat, until you realize that after consming it, you just
consumed a baby calf. Now to my post...
“I say to you this morning, that if you have never found something so dear
and so precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live.
You died when you refused to stand up for right. You died when you refused to stand up
for truth. You died when you refused to stand up for justice…”
I arrived at the steps of the Supreme Court at an extremely poignant juncture on January 22, 2009; an axis of civil argument, a collusion if intellectual banter. It was five o’clock and the sun was setting over the City of Presidents; the very collision of night and day in the heavens reflecting the collision now occurring in front of my eyes. The battle lines had been drawn, as they have been since 1973, and the forces were ebbing in from all corners of this great country. A few days prior, I had seen the docile demonstration of nearly two million people gathering to celebrate new beginnings and second chances. However, I was now observing less than 200 people so impassioned and so invigorated by their beliefs that they could be heard from a mile away. In Dr. King’s last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church spoke to the kind of passion I was witnessing. The Reverend spoke of two types of human beings: those who believe in something so passionately and wholly that they would forsake life to see its end and those whose last breath is merely a delayed indication of the death of spirit that occurred many years before due to indifference. While the demonstration was supposed to have winded down by the time I got there, what I witnessed were individuals who believed in their respective causes to the extent that Reverend King championed; I was witnessing individuals who had not only weathered a day of high winds and frigid temperatures, but I was certain, would be willing to die for their cause.
“What I don’t understand,” said James, a fervent pro-life participant, “is that I am passionate about ending abortion because I believe it is constitutionally approved murder. Whether I am right or I am wrong, my conviction is that abortion is death.” Then turning to the pro-choice camp, who had seemingly tripled in numbers in a mere 10 minutes and were now winding up their own demonstrating, James continued, “What I don’t understand is what they have to be so passionate about. I stand on a moral ground, but what do they stand on?” Behind James was a hauntingly appropriate backdrop: a mass of pro-lifers, on their knees, praying for the souls across from them, now reveling in their right to choose, in their right to democratic freedom. Colliding with the hushed and kneeled benedictions were the equally moving calls for the recognition of rights, for the recognition of the human will to choose in the government’s stead. I took James’ question, “what do they stand for” to the pro-choice side and was surprised at the answer I received. “We stand for WOMEN!,” Alya shouted over the chants of her compatriots. “We stand for our right to choose! What people don’t understand,” looking disgustedly towards the calm sea of worshippers, “is that we don’t believe in killing babies- who would ever want that?,” she asked incredulously, “We believe that the right to choose what happens to our bodies is so sacred, so vital to our existence, that we are willing to come out here and lose everything to make sure the next generation of American women have the right to choose.” Her passion and ardor floored me, yet even if I could have offered a retort, my meager words would have been drowned out by the ensuing cheer that arose from the revolving door of women who also believed choice was synonymous with life.
To be continued....
4. Gatorade Frost Cascade Crash
