We Won’t Go Back

 

August 23, 2022

 

We Won’t Go Back

I try very hard to keep our blog non-political. There is enough dissention, disagreement and downright hostility in our nation currently and I hate that everything has become sop political, so mean and so personal. I have always felt that the beauty of the United States is that people are free to believe as they will and speak out for what they believe in. These days it seems that everything is political and tolerance of opposing opinions is at historic lows.

Having said that, I also want my blog to be honest and straightforward about what we do and our freedom to support the causes that are important to us. So, I post this particular blog with the caveat that if you don’t agree with the positions that are featured in this post, it is ok. Chances are good that we will not be able to convince each other to change our beliefs, yet we can still have respect and open communication and agree to disagree. 

The issue of abortion should be safe and legal or banned has been one of the moral and political debates of my lifetime. I feel very strongly that a woman’s right to choose should not be legislated by the Government. I understand and accept that there are many people who feel just as strongly that the practice should be outlawed and they have strong moral and religious reasons for their position. This month I joined the many who share my particular position to protest against the Supreme Court and their recent decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The protest started at Nelson English Park and then the protesters marched all the way down Duval Street to Mallory Square. A couple of hundred of activists joined the parade holding signs and placards and they marched chanting slogans and voicing their opposition to the court’s decision. 

I was on hand to at once document the march, but also because I agree with the protesters that the decision was flatly wrong. The fact is that abortions will go on whether they are legal or not and it is far preferable to have them performed in the safety of a medical facility than the alternative. Being Pro-Choice does not equate to being for abortion. I don’t know anyone who feels like abortion is a good thing ,but I also don’t think that it is my place to make that choice for someone else. It should be between the woman and her doctor. 

Unwanted pregnancies are preventable and yet many of the same people who are anti-abortion are also against sex education that seems to me the best place to limit the number of abortions by stopping it before it even becomes an issue. 

There is another overly politicized issue that has been impacting the Keys this summer and that is a record influx of Cuban (and some Haitian) migrants arriving on our shores after making the dangerous crossing of the Florida Straights in barely seaworthy vessels known as chugs. Literally hundreds of migrants have been arriving almost daily and the chugs are literally littering the shorelines of the Keys. The saddest part is that after making the dangerous journey and arriving safe, they are rounded up and shipped right back to Cuba. The Haitians get to stay because we have a different agreement with Haiti. It is just another crazy non-equitable way of treating people based on politics.