Change

I used to think that NASCAR was dumb. A bunch of guys making left hand turns and after driving 180 miles per hour for 500 miles ending up right where they started. Then there were the race interviews, “Joe, what happened out there?” “Boy howdy that GM Monte Carlo, Hardees, Pepsi Cola, Oreo, Simonize Wax Chevy was runnin like little Billy Williams when he seen his pa a cumin after him with a three foot hickory switch after he throwed a pack of farcrackers up under the widder Johnson’s porch swing while she was a nappin on it. And it ended pretty much the same way. Billy ain’t throwd no more farcrackers and we ain’t doin no more racin today. She was a runnin like a scalded ape on them four Goodyear tars and them 22 gallons of premium Union 76 gas. Everything was goin great until ol’ Ironhead Lappy’s motor broke a dumpin them 20 quarts of Penzol’ down in the Burger King turn four. Then Fatback Lipton hit that ol’, blowed a tar and slud up the track like three kids a racin down Farmer Mac’s hill on brand new Flexible Flars after a good snow. He smacked that Sac-Crete concrete wall like Thelma Lou whacked ol’ Billy Bob when she caught him with Betty Jones back behind the Dairy Queen one Saturday night and balled the whole thing up. He give us all one thumpin headache and send us lookin for the Goody’s Headache powder. Weel heck, that’s racin. Wi’ll be back next week at the Sears Auto Parts 500.” Then I went to a race and have been hooked ever since.

I used to plan Saturdays and Sundays around the football TV schedule. I don’t anymore. I used to think 50 was old. Now I almost am. And it’s not. I used to wonder how anyone could listen to country music. Now I prefer it. I used to think that jumping off of the high rock at Rock Mill into the freezing water below was cool. Now it’s insane. I used to think that anyone who rolled their luggage through an airport was old or weak. Now anyone who doesn’t is either stupid or has a broken wheel. I used to love Coca Cola. Now it’s too sweet. I used to run 3-8 miles 6 days a week, as fast as could. Now I jog a couple of miles 3 days a week and often end up walking. I used to dislike cats. Now they’re cool. The point is, as you might have guessed by now, over the years I’ve changed or life has changed me.

I used to think that abortion was like trimming a toe nail. It was nothing more than removing a blob of unwanted cells. Then along came Danny. I watched Ms. Lex grow day by day until the day Danny entered the world and, the blob of cells myth was shattered. If I worked backward from Danny’s birth, at what point, what day, minute and second was Danny not Danny but a blob of cells a kin to a toe nail? Well, I could not answer, reconcile or rationalize that question away.

In a world where we throw everything away to include phones and cameras, I can still understand a young girl thinking of abortion as a way out of a life altering jam. I understand a young poor couple who think of abortion as a way out of bringing another child to an already overcrowded dinner table. I understand parents who find out that their child is deformed thinking it best for everyone to abort the baby.

I don’t understand pulling a full-term baby, feet first from the womb and sucking its brains out. I don’t understand why the federal government is involved in the issue at all. I don’t understand why you cannot be a pro-life Democrat. I don’t understand why everyone can’t agree that every abortion is a tragedy - to the baby for sure but also for the mother’s own physical and mental health. I don’t understand how the Libs on the one hand can say we may be destroying a chance for a cure for AIDS by lumber policies in the rainforest (aka jungle), but on the other advocate the wholesale destruction human life which is our real best hope for solving our problems. Too long – stem cells tomorrow.