3 posts tagged “social justice”
In my opinion, the problem of abortion is a multifaceted issue. And, it is more of a symptom than a problem in itself.
A symptom of what? Fear. Taking yourself out of your normal perspective, can you imagine how scary it would be to find out you are pregnant and do not have the means to care for this child? And what about what your parents will think? They might even disown you. Or if you're a single mother living in a poor community...how will you provide for your child? You can't work and take care of her at the same time, except for very select jobs that probably won't pay much money. And besides, you're not married. What will society think?
I know it is their fault for getting into the situation (at least most times...rape is a special circumstance that most people are more compassionate towards), but that still doesn't change the fact that the guiding principle in these situations is fear.
Making abortion illegal, in my opinion, will only increase that fear. Because before there was an out, a backup, if you couldn't figure anything else out. And now there is no (legal) escape. Because of this increased fear, I think women might go to greater lengths, unsafe ones, to be rid of that fear.
But then what do they trade the fear for? Regret and guilt. It's not a happy situation.
So I would approach the problem with the goal of easing these fears so
that the woman can make a genuine choice from her heart rather than let
her fear consume her.
On a social level, I would probably do things like provide free
childcare in poorer communities, so the mother can work and earn money
to take care of her child, or continue going to school. I actually
stole that idea from Obama. ;) In addition, I would try to find ways
to increase the quality of schools in poorer areas. As it is, richer
schools = better schools, and so the poor keep going in circles.
Basically, find things that will make it easier for the mother to give
her child a good life, and you'll reduce some of the fear that consumes
her.
Also, reform and improve the foster care system. Address the issues that make people think growing up in the foster care system is a nightmare you wouldn't ever wish on your child. Perhaps also offer tax credits or extra benefits to couples who adopt a child.
But the most important thing, in my opinion, is the hardest to implement. I would make it a rule that before a woman can get an abortion, she must attend one or two counseling sessions. The purpose of these sessions is not to persuade her to change her mind. If it were, it would never work. Abortion has to remain an option because it serves as the initial fear-reducer that will get them into the building, where counselors can hopefully help guide them to be sure they are making the best decision...the one their hearts tell them to make.
On a wide level this idea will only work so well because it relies upon an abundance of really good counselors. If the counselor is pushing the woman towards one particular option (be it keeping the baby, giving it up for adoption, or having the abortion), she will sense that and resist. The conversation really needs to be centered around the woman's situation and her psyche. And the counselor must give up the idea that they can control the outcome, because by exerting control the situation is only made worse.
The idea is to get them to talk and think about their situation. There might be an option they hadn't thought of, or a way to make it work they hadn't considered. It also may be that they hadn't been thinking of the long term, only the short term goal of being rid of all this fear. Regardless of the situation, their life would drastically change if they kept the child, and some of that fear is rational, and some of it isn't. It would help to have someone you can trust, someone who isn't going to push anything on you but who will help you come to your own decision...one you can live with.
Yes, some of these women will still end up choosing to get an abortion. But, if we approach them with compassion and understanding, I believe that many more women will make other, better decisions. And our society as a whole will not look upon these women with either indifference or contempt but rather with compassion.
I think a combination of all these ideas plus many many more, all aimed at making the decision to keep the child or give it up for adoption easier to make, will help the situation the most.
But to just make it illegal, to me, is admitting we don't understand the problem, or that we don't have or want to give up the resources needed in order to really address it. It's easier to just call something wrong and disallow it than to really engage the problem on all levels. And that is what I think we need to do.
Read this while reading Krishnamurti's The First and Last Freedom. It may be of particular interest to Rich.
“Most of us want to see a radical transformation in the social structure. That is the whole battle that is going on in the world—to bring about a social revolution through communistic or any other means. Now if there is a social revolution, that is an action with regard to the outer structure of man, however radical that social revolution may be its very nature is static if there is no inward revolution of the individual, no psychological transformation. Therefore to bring about a society that is constantly alive, it is imperative that there should be a revolution in the psychological structure of the individual, for without inward, psychological revolution, mere transformation of the outer has very little significance.”
Then:
“So you and I are the problem, and not the world, because the world is the projection of ourselves and to understand the world we must understand ourselves. The world is not separate from us; we are the world, and our problems are the world’s problems. This cannot be repeated too often, because we are sluggish in our mentality that we think the world’s problems are not our business, that they have to be resolved by the United Nations or by substituting new leaders for the old."
“It is not withdrawal from the world, because you cannot live in isolation. To be is to be related, and there is no such thing as living in isolation. It is the lack of right relationship that brings about conflicts, misery and strife; however small our world may be, if we can transform our relationship in that narrow world, it will be like a wave extending outward all the time.”
More on knowing yourself:
“To understand oneself there must be the intention to understand—and that is where our difficulty comes in. Although most of us are discontented, we desire to bring about a sudden change, our discontent is canalized merely to achieve a certain result; being discontented, we either seek a different job or merely succumb to environment. Discontent, instead of setting us aflame, causing us to question life, the whole process of existence, is canalized and thereby we become mediocre, losing that drive, that intensity to find out the whole significance of existence.”
“One must know oneself as one is, not as one wishes to be which is merely and idea and therefore fictitious, unreal; it is only that which is that can be transformed, not that which you wish to be.”
“If I am greedy, envious, violent, merely having an ideal of non-violence, of non-greed, is of little value. But to know that one is greedy or violent, to know and understand it, requires an extraordinary perception, does it not? It demands honesty, clarity of thought, whereas to pursue an ideal away from what is is an escape; it prevents you from discovering and acting directly upon what you are.”
“There is a difference between being virtuous and becoming virtuous. Being virtuous comes through the understanding of what is, whereas becoming virtuous is postponement, the covering up of what is with what you would like to be.”
“But if we begin to condemn what is, if we begin to blame or resist it, then we shall not understand its movement. If I want to understand somebody, I cannot condemn him; I must observe, study him. I must love the very thing I am studying.”
“The difficulty with the majority of us is that we do not know ourselves directly, but seek a system, a method, a means of operation by which to solve the many human problems.”
“Therefore there is no method for self-knowledge. Seeking a method invariably implies the desire to attain some result—and that is what we all want. We follow authority—if not that of a person, then that of a system, of an ideology—because we want a result which will be satisfactory, which will give us security. We really do not want to understand ourselves., our impulses and reactions, the whole process of our thinking, the conscious as well as the unconscious; we would rather pursue a system which assures us of a result.”
So, in summary:
“In order to transform the world about us, with its misery, wars, unemployment, starvation, class divisions and utter confusion, there must be a transformation in ourselves. The revolution must begin with oneself—but not according to any belief or ideology, because revolution based on an idea, or in conformity to a particular pattern, is obviously no revolution at all. To bring about a fundamental revolution in oneself, one must understand the whole process of one’s thought and feeling in relationship. That is the only solution to all our problems—not to have more disciplines, more beliefs, more ideologies and more teachers. If we can understand ourselves as we are from moment to moment without the process of accumulation, then we shall see how there comes a tranquility that is not a product of the mind, a tranquility that is neither imagined nor cultivated; and only in that state of tranquility can there be creativeness.”
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