A couple of days ago, I went on “the walk” (yes, these walks are quite eventful), and I must say it did not leave me feeling fresh and full of life, like it normally does. Reason – there were people standing all around the circle, distributing pamphlets, holding banners with gory pictures of dead fetuses. I don’t mean to be really graphic or sound insensitive here, but these pictures of dead, unborn children’s bodies covered in blood brought feelings of disgust rather than sympathy or sadness.
Of course, these were the “pro-life” campaigners. For those who are not have not heard about it before, you can read the definitions here or google “Pro-life vs Pro-choice”.
So, I quickly finished one round around the circle, avoiding any eye contact with the banner holders as much as I was avoiding looking at their banners, and was about to head back to end my uncomfortable walk, when a young boy barely 10 years old, walked towards me and handed me one of the pamphlets he was helping distribute. Shocked as I was, more so to see a child participating in this political campaign, I took it from him and kept moving.
He then asked me – “What are your thoughts on abortion?”. A lot of replies came to my mind, like – “It’s none of your business what I think about anything!”, or “What are you doing here instead of playing on your X-box (or whatever kids play on these days) and enjoying your summer break?” or “Where are your parents? Let me take you back to them” . All I could manage to say was – “I would rather not talk about it”.
I don’t have a problem with kids talking about complex issues like these, nor with kids being interested in politics. Not that it matters, but I do have a huge problem with kids being used for political gains. Not just the ones appointed to distribute fliers and talk to people about their opinions, but also the ones in the pictures. I am not even going to discuss what I think about the whole abortion issue – that is not the point. The point is, why is this even a political issue? People make good choices, people also make bad choices. Sometimes because they are bad people, sometimes just because of their circumstances. Why does a government have to control everything its people do? Don’t they have enough to do already? Don’t they have other issues to use for their campaigning that actually pertain to how a country is run, not how it’s people make their personal decisions (as long as they don’t lead to criminal behavior)?
I have never been very interested in politics. Not when I was in India, not here in the US. I just cannot bring myself to trust the breed of politicians. And I admit I am not very familiar with the political history of US or with the background of these issues. But I do feel it is a disrespect towards these unborn children to display and use their pictures to provoke people so that they vote for a certain political group/candidate.
So, what do you think? Feel free to point out if you think I’m wrong. Whether or not you agree, I am interested to hear other opinions on this.
Masala Chai 