February 3, 2010
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The annals of the French Revolution prove that the knowledge of the few cannot counteract the ignorance of the many . . . the light of philosophy, when it is confined to a small minority, points out the possessors as the victims rather than the illuminators of the multitude. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge – 1850)
Last night I attended the City Council meeting at Fitchburg, MA. There was to be a bill presented allowing Planned Parenthood to renovate an abandoned building on Main Street and use it for their counseling services. No abortions were to be performed there. Yet there were angry protesters from the Pro Life movement there to prohibit Planned Parenthood. I wanted to go to tell my personal story of an encounter with Planned Parenthood and how it changed my life.
When I arrived, I was met by a group of three women who asked me if I were Pro-Life. Although I have read about them, I have never encountered a direct question “Are you Pro-Life?” Of course I’m pro-life. I cannot say that I am not pro-life. To me, I am pro-life of the mother who needs to make a decision. I am pro-life in the new life that Planned Parenthood gave me when I was young. So I didn’t answer “No, I’m not pro-life”, but rather I answered “I’m pro-Planned Parenthood”.
I was married when I was 21 and my wife at the time, for a variety of reasons, hated kids with a passion. One didn’t need to be a psychologist to understand why if they knew what she had gone through between the ages of 8 and 17. So she did not want to have kids at all. Yet she was afraid of taking the pill because of a tendency to clot. She knew that if she had ever gotten pregnant, she would kill herself. I knew that also although I didn’t know if she would kill herself while pregnant or after birth. But I would have been a young widower and possibly a single parent.
So after talking it over, we decided that I would get a vasectomy as that was less intrusive than her having her tubes tied. We were very poor then as she was not working and I was only making a little more than minimum wage. So we went to Planned Parenthood in Chicago and they counseled us. After their counseling, we still wanted to go through with the vasectomy so I had it done at their downtown center on a Friday afternoon, went home on the subway, rested over the weekend, and went to work that Monday.
That vasectomy saved at least one of our lives and gave me a quality of life I would not have otherwise had. Planned Parenthood’s accessibility was the key because we didn’t have the money to do it any other way. I feel indebted to Planned Parenthood and get very upset when I see ignorant people working out of their fear and hatred to try to keep these people from doing the tremendous good that they do. As I said, abortion wasn’t even to be an issue here but they are so dead-set against Planned Parenthood that they didn’t care.
I don’t mind if someone is ignorant. And I don’t even mind if someone is ignorant and doesn’t want to know or learn something. But what I can’t stand are these right wing-nuts who are ignorant, do not want to listen and learn, and insist on imposing their views on others to where others are violated because of the right wing-nuts fear and hatred. What does it take for these people to learn critical analysis and empathy?
The result of the City Council vote? They didn’t want to pass the bill but they didn’t want to have to explain why they would vote against it, so they copped out and just tabled the motion.
Comments (9)
I like your posts, they get me thinking. It seems to me that some (a lot, most?) people think they know what is right for their own self, and so think that what they know, must be right for everyone. How does one explain to them the difference between knowledge and belief? Thou shalt not kill is one commandment, but Love thy neighbor as thyself is another. And then we throw politics (the city council) into the mix. sigh, it’s a wonder humans have evolved at all
A sad story, David! In the pursuit of demanding the ” efficacious ” outcome of a sore subject, our views become so glaucomatous.
It’s a shame that the Council didn’t have the courage to act on this bill — Planned Parenthood is so important in so many ways, as your experience so strongly demonstrates.
@ZSA_MD - I love your metaphor of “glaucomatous”. I would expect such a metaphor only from someone such as you. It’s a great metaphor that immediately communicates even though I doubt that I have ever heard or seen the term. I’m going to use it myself.
@curiousdwk - That is a compliment. I have surprised many people by the use of this word. I love to use it, and I amtruly complimented that you would too. Thank you.
Why do people want to polarize the issue? I wonder how anti-abortionists can also want the death penalty? The ultimate hypocracy is that they allowed one of their follower to kill an abortion doctor.
@PPhilip - I think that the reason you have the hypocracy is that they are motivated by their feelings – their feelings to want to be passionate about a cause. As a result, they are not even trying to be rational – only emotional. And so when you try to discuss with them on a rational basis, there is a very big disconnect between what they will receive and what you can try to show them.
I don’t mind that they are ignorant and unskilled in critical analysis. And I don’t even mind if they don’t want to know or don’t want to apply critical analysis skills. What I do mind, though, is when they insist on motivating others through fear and ignorance to force behaviors on others. I have a real problem with their insistance that what they decide is right needs to be imposed on others. Especially when based on unfounded fears.
@ZSA_MD - I had to look up glaucomatous just to be sure I can legally use it in Scrabble someday. I can! Thank you! Now all I need is to have COMA be on the board, with a U three spaces after the A in COMA, and to have OUT-SLAG on my rack (SLAG is a verb, so OUT-SLAG would mean “to surpass in slagging” if it was a word, but it’s not, which is why I hyphenate OUT-SLAG so that I don’t mistakenly play it in a game), and I can wow my opponent, and I can then give credit to the lady doctor who taught me the word!
@curiousdwk - To sadly observe that the situation isn’t ever going to change much is only to deflect myself back to your choice of how you began this blog. For some reason, the Coleridge quote has an oddly consoling quality. Maybe it’s a small consolation, but a consolation nonetheless.
Thank you for sharing this tale, D. It must’ve been tough for you to spill such a sad tale in public domain.
I guess different people encounter different experiences, and because of that, there are vast differences in our beliefs and what we support. I do not like the idea that there are people out there trying to stop others from advocating their cause. We should respect all, unless what is being advocated is a cause that is detrimental to one’s country, race, religion or gender.