I'm just a little confused...

I admit it - I'm following politics. McCain appointed Sarah Palin as his VP choice. One of her strongest credentials from the conservative right is that she's totally pro-life. She says something like, "You can't get a stronger pro-life candidate than me." Why? Partly because while pregnant with her fifth child, it was discovered he had Down's Syndrome, and she chose to carry him full-term. He was born in April (I'm not sure if it was this past year or the year before - I was watching a YouTube of an interview with Glen Beck). That makes her pro-life? Well, I'm not going to get into my personal views on abortion, but suffice it to say that if I found out a child of mine had Down's Syndrome, I wouldn't get an abortion, but I don't see eye-to-eye with Sarah Palin. Can't you choose to have a special needs child AND be pro-choice? I'm just a little confused. Where did we get so black and white?

While at the lakes with everyone, talk turned to politics, and previous staunch conservatives were extolling the virtues of Obama (and Michelle, in particular). Liberal Democrats were citing McCain's strengths - I watched most of it with my mouth hanging wide open. Previous discussions along this line ended in turkey flying around the room and loud words exchanged. Now THAT kind of conversation excites me - the lines are blurred. Nobody has to take a stand and stick with it for the rest of their lives. We're free to change our minds as we figure different things out. Alliances change - it's not all one-sided, really, it isn't, so no one has to be afraid that they'll standing on one side all by themselves. There are a myriad of "sides," anyway - take your pick. Or make your own side. Or choose NOT to be on any side at all. That's mostly what I do - I'm just me. I know I confuse others - "Is she a Democrat or a Republican? She ACTS like a Democrat, but she also acts like a Republican!" Am I a Christian or a Buddhist or a New Age person (what ARE New Age people called? New Agers?) or a post-modernist? Who knows? I could never be held down to any particular organization or institution that stated their list of beliefs and asked me to sign on the dotted line. Life is just too amorphous, human beings are just to unique and changing, don't you think?

So I sit here and watch the hurricane as it hits New Orleans, and I think life is a huge circle - around and around and around all again, like a square dance (or should I say a round dance?) - a beautiful, crazy hodge podge of feelings and emotions and thoughts. And I, for one, am excited to study with Vidya Anderson when she comes to the Spirit Room - I am SO totally going to learn individualized meditation. The key word? Individualized - unique. Just like us.