Free Reading Material

Sometimes I'll grab a publication sitting in a rack and check it out just to see what people are writing about. (Funny story about that below.) Today I grabbed a copy of the Inland Northwest Christian News. The first article, Celebrate the Value of Every Human Life, was entirely about abortion. Yeah, I know, what was I supposed to expect, right? But with a title like that I would also expect something about the genocide in Darfur, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or any of the other senseless killing going on in the world. They sure are selective when they talk about every human life. Funny thing though about this focus on abortion, the beginning of human life, stem cell research, and the religious leaders who claim to speak for God. Something like 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage and most of them so early the woman is unaware of it. If life begins at conception who is responsible for those lost babies? Food for thought...um, but only for the open minded.

Here's the story: Back in '94 I came home on emergency leave because my Dad had a heart attack. While killing some time downtown I grabbed a free newspaper from a rack, folded it and stuffed it in my back pocket. Later, while perusing guitars in the Sound Hole, I turned around and there was a guy down the aisle with a big smile on his face. Then he winked at me. I gave him a "What the hell?" look and ignored him. All the way back to my parent's house I was wondering why he did that. Then I pulled the newspaper out of my pocket and found what I believed to be the answer. It was a copy of The Stonewall News - Serving the Gay Community Since... It seems I gave him the wrong impression. My wife thought it was funny when I told her about it and then said, "I'm just giving you a fair warning. If you ever mess up and I have to leave you, there's this guy..."