I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke.
Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a
butterfly dreaming that I am a man? - Chuang Tzu
When I first read this as a kid, I found it truly beautiful. I don`t know if it was because it involves a butterfly or dreams. Even though this is a parable on the interchangeability between appearance and reality, I often figure out that it can be used to help people who feel that their opinion is the ultimate truth. This goes along the same line as George Orwell`s concept of "doublethink" whereby a person`s mind understands and accepts two contradictory ideas/believes/thoughts.
Today I read the opinion of a girl, who, I suppose is a very religious person. She was quoting a holy text to support why she is against abortion. I respect people who are religious in the same way that I respect Twilight fans; I would never understand why they are so much into it but I admire their zeal. However, I would never understand why someone would base her entire opinion on something as important as abortion on a text that was written thousands of years ago.
Anyway, coming back to adopting contradictory thoughts, my point is, you should always keep an open mind. Opinions change and it all depends on your situation. When I was a teenager and I`m sure I must not have been the only one, the epitome of horror was the idea of getting pregnant. Even though I was not sexually active at the time, it still scared the crap out of me to hear those stories of girls who, out of love or naivete or both got pregnant and who had to leave school and take care of their kids. Getting pregnant meant the end of that youthful nonchalance characterised by teenage years. Abortion would, of course, have been an option if ever I had gotten into such a situation.
As I got into adulthood, and seriously, I mean as from last year, I started thinking that if ever I got pregnant, I would happily await the arrival of the flesh of my flesh, the blood of my blood even on the occurrence that he/she is an accident. It`s just that I am now emotionally and financially ready to take this responsibility. I am talking about myself and this might seem terribly narcissistic but it`s just that being pro-choice or pro-life is deeply subjective. It`s the kind of opinion that evolves with time and I might add, maturity.
I know some women of my age who have had an abortion and I know one of them who has decided the keep the child. To each her own opinion and I salute each one of their choices... Who am I to judge anyway?
Everytime someone comes forth with a new idea, there's someone else to contradict it. That's the most humane thing ever! But at some point, we got to stop acting like jerks.
ReplyDeleteSome people are having kids they didn't plan to people they didn't love. And they live in conditions they didn't dream of. So yeah, abortion is a good thing for them.
As for the rest of us, well we don't go around sleepin' and abortin', right?
so you're against abortion?
ReplyDeleteIf you re-read the above, you can see that when it comes for me, abortion is not really an option. But I am not a judge of whether it should be done or not. To each woman her case and decision. Put briefly, no I am not against abortion.
DeleteThe decision should be that of the mother and no one else as it's only her who's going to carry that child for 9 months.
ReplyDelete