Ignorance and the Baby Lady

Seldom does one have the "pleasure" of having an experience that leaves them simultaneously baffled, amazed, disgusted, and infuriated. Today, I had such a potpourri of emotions. During the middle of the day, our lovin' AP US class set out across the road to help out at the polling stations. Our entire class was for Obama, but in response to a rather pitiful plea from the Republican greeters, a handful of us went over to help them hand out sample ballots as well, for the sake of fairness and democracy. I decided to do this, as much to stretch myself as to help them out... it's good to be out of your comfort zone every once in a while. However, I was soon so far out of my comfort zone I almost morphed into an active volcano.
It was all well and good for a while. The lady we were speaking with was energetic and seemed to be quite nice. Then she started talking about her thoughts... and I was stunned. The very first shocker was this: her argument for the United States being a Christian nation. In her mind, God had created all of the countries and states and country lines, and set them down on Earth, therefore he created the USA, therefore we are as a nation already "his". I did not know what to say. Everything that one learns in history and life in general contradicts this... but it was her belief, albeit an ignorant and misinformed one. And then came the BIG problem. She began to talk about abortion. She told us, with all certainty and conviction, that an abortion was "when they went inside the mother and snipped off the baby's arms and legs, and then sucked its brains out." What? WHAT?? Another story of hers was the other way they do abortions: induce the birth, and then hold the "fully formed, except for the lungs" baby in their hand and watch it suffocate. I kid you not. I exaggerate not an ounce. I wish I did. She claimed that these stories came straight from the abortion clinics, so we'd know they were true, and encouraged us to look them up on YouTube so we could see "what Obama stands for".

I like to think that I am an open and accepting person. But this flat ignorance and the meanness and graphicness in which she presented her outright lies infuriated me. I was stunned and steaming, and made a polite and hasty excuse to leave the vicinity before anything terrible could happen. What frightens me most, however, is the thought that someone with this level of misunderstanding is attempting to pass legislature to have power over me and my life and my body! If you want to make my decisions for me, at least ask to make them based on logic and facts, not outright fabrication and slander. I was amazed to hear her voice as a representation of what many others, too, believe. And although I must rant about the anger it boiled up inside of my conscience and my heart, I also have to say that I am very grateful for the experience.

I'm not arguing for or against abortion. I'm arguing against ignorance. I'm arguing for logic, and wisdom, and the willingness to actually find out the truth. I'm arguing for a truth that fits facts, not just your beliefs. What an incredible experience.

xoxo heN