I am pro-life.

How can anybody look into the eyes of a stranger who poses no threat to them, see the pleading and the thirst for life, and then shoot them dead? How can anybody take the life of a child who has not been given the opportunity to decide for himself what is good and evil? People who can do this have no conscience. People who can do this have no regard for their fellow humans' right to live, and thus do not quite deserve to live.

With these strong opinions, how can I be anti-life, and what does the "pro-life" movement suggest? Do they consider me to have the conscience of a sociopath? But, I declare, an unborn fetus is not a person; it is not a person, at least, until it is sentient and can possibly survive outside the womb, which occurs at the beginning of the third trimester (1.4% of abortions occur at or after this point). Until then, it cannot feel basic emotions, physical pain, nor can it understand mortality.

I insist that I am pro-life, then. I have a conscience and I do not think anybody should be killed for no purpose. I am not evil. I can look into a stranger's eyes and feel the life they live for in my heart. I want everyone to feel wanted and loved and to enjoy their only opportunity to exist. They are people. They want existence.

There is too much unnecessary suffering. There are too many children being born into a world that treats them wickedly. They are their own people now and should be given a chance. But no more unhappy children should be brought here unwanted. Before they know what misery is, make it so they'll never have to feel such a way. Children should be loved by parents and family. They deserve nothing less.

I am pro-choice because I can step into the shoes of an average woman - a woman with no more good or evil in her than the rest of us - and understand her pain. I can imagine myself as one of the millions of children who were born homeless. What can these "pro-lifers" do except condemn everybody, stamp their heels for every fetus yet ignore the plights of those already born, and make assertions solely based on their personal feelings rather than stopping to take a look at the condition their world is in?

I am indeed pro-life. But at the same time, I am pro-choice. My mind is big enough to hold both concepts.

Every year, 14,050,000 children still grow up as orphans and age out of the system.
Every 2.2 seconds, another orphan child ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home.
In Ukraine and Russia, 10-15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18. 60% of the girls are lured into prostitution. 70% of the boys become hardened criminals.*

Be pro-life: find homes for the children that are already born, and don't bring any more misery into the world. Many families can't have children and want some, but there are already millions to choose from.

*http://www.hfgf.org/statistics.pdf

Land of the Free

My freedom is fenced by high expectations
And for years I've yearned for a little salvation
In the land of the free, how can I be
Individualistic?

Apparently it's an autonomy
That's far too concerned with economy
Thus we've become, except for some,
Far too materialistic.

Ironic that in this democracy,
I've never seen such hypocrisy
Freedom's our guise, but much of it's lies,
We're all just idealistic.

Americans have the mentality
That theirs is the only morality
Stop being blind, open your mind
It's risky to be narcissistic.

Once, people arrived to escape persecution
The New World it seemed was the greatest solution
If we've come so far, to me it's bizarre
That as a people we're unaltruistic.

Is it strange that I seem to want to be saved
From the land of the free and the home of the brave?
In the land of the free, how can I be
Individualistic?