I read something in the newspaper this week that drove me up the tree that wasn’t cut down to print it on (since it was on their Web site, natch). I can’t say exactly what, because it would amplify the jerk factor of this rant by a factor of, oh, I don’t know, 4 or so. It’s also sort of a controversial issue, and I don’t need the headache.
Okay, fine, screw it — read it for yourself: Couple embrace joy as they live through troubled pregnancy.
And the passage that drove me crazy:
Initially, they had decided to terminate the pregnancy, but when Jason, a major in the Air National Guard, was called by their insurer, telling them the military doesn’t cover abortions unless the health of the mother is at risk, they saw it as a sign to see the pregnancy through.
A few things first:
- I realize it’s wholly insensitive to even comment on this.
- I’m not commenting on abortion at all, because my opinion on that is that I don’t get to have an opinion. It’s not my body, it’s not my baby, and it’s not my business.
My point is simply this: I believe that the insurer telling them they don’t cover abortion unless the mother’s health is at risk is simply a sign that the insurer doesn’t cover abortion unless the mother’s health is at risk. Nothing more, nothing less. Not everything is a mystical sign (otherwise, we’d have to spend our whole lives interpreting things and would never get anything done).
The credit for the decision doesn’t go to a ’sign’ — it goes to the couple making the decision. I tend to think that even without the sign, they would’ve found in the end that they couldn’t go through with it. And if they could’ve gone through with it, they would’ve found a way.
On my first day of work at a “real” job, it poured down rain. As I sat in my car and sweltered because I was ridiculously early, I could’ve taken it as a sign that it wasn’t the job for me, and gone home. I didn’t, and 12+ years later, I work at the same place and I’ve loved almost every minute of it.
When George W. Bush got re-elected, I seriously wondered if it was a sign that it was time to head to Canada. If it weren’t for general laziness and the aforementioned job, maybe I would’ve done it. But I stuck it out, and now I’m getting my country back, at least for a few years. (Yeah, I had to work that in, didn’t I?)
Anyway, my point is this — those red octagon thingies you see on street corners? Those are signs. What your insurance covers, and what the weather’s like, and who the president is? Those are facts. Sometimes facts might indicate things, and they might affect what you can do or what you should do. But that doesn’t make them ’signs.’
Matt Riffle