My workplace had a booth at the Manning Networking Conference this past week. And network I did. As a result, I met some very interesting folks. Highlights include a self-described politically conservative, wiccan/pagan pro-lifer and a really great conversation with a young man who is gay, pro-gay marriage and strongly pro-life, who may want to run for a seat in the House of Commons at some point in the future.

Now I’m not going to claim that I meet a lot of pro-lifers who open with “I’m a witch,” but at the same time, don’t let “them” tell you who pro-lifers are. Because “they” (I think by this I mean hostile pro-choicers) like to lay claim to tolerance and diversity, where, in reality I think they are only “tolerant” because they refuse to acknowledge there are other points of view. It’s really easy to be tolerant when you’ve never tried to engage with someone who thinks differently.

Interesting article over at The Public Discourse. What intrigues me most is the discussion of freedom. I’ve recently been trying to unpack what freedom really means. It’s not the same as endless choice. And how do we live truly freely, unencumbered by the wrong expectations of us? Interesting questions. And of course, there is so much to critique about Betty Friedan. Lots of good stuff to discuss.

For all her talk about freedom, Friedan ultimately wants women to lead lives according to her own preference. Friedan attests that all housewives feel the burden of the feminine mystique. Throughout the book, Friedan condescendingly writes passages like: “for the housewife, the world is indeed rushing past her door while she just sits and watches.”

It’s a busy season so I don’t have time to give the treatment I’d like to the front page story in yesterday’s Post about a surrogate mom carrying a baby who the parents wanted to abort due to health problems (eugenics alert). When the surrogate refused, the parents sent a legal letter demanding she abort. I assume that we are hearing about the case because the parents are continuing to pursue a legal case against the surrogate; this bold woman actually picked up and moved to a state where she’d have more rights as the surrogate mother to not abort the baby she was carrying.

So many things wrong here, starting with the idea that we can do perfect strangers the favour of carrying a baby for them, without there being repercussions. But the problems all go back, in my mind, to the abortion-friendly culture and the manner in which people are disposable. I want a baby; but not a baby like that. For all the rhetoric of the parents in the article saying they didn’t want a baby to be born and suffer through health problems, their desire for abortion was not compassion. They didn’t want to care for a child like that, since we can hardly assume what the feelings of those who are sick and disabled are. We don’t get to choose the level of health we, or our children, will have. The choice mentality gets punctured pretty quickly in the real world–and yet the rhetoric is so rampant that it actually surprises some when they realize that some things are not a choice.

I think I agree with this assessment–that professors should focus on subject material except where students come looking for mentorship, which, I would hope does happen, but outside the classroom.

The problem with this article: Chief amongst the learning men and women get from casual hookups at a fertile age is pregnancy. And what do we do there? Encourage couples not to learn, but rather, to abort the learning, all because sex seemed like a good idea after a couple of drinks.

Of course, abortion brings with it it’s own hard lessons. However, as any Silent No More woman will tell you, the learning remains buried often for many years (which is why many Silent No More women are already in their 40s, 50s and beyond).

Yes. Our hook-up culture does indeed allow us to learn. But I won’t raise my glass to that, because it’s a painful, tear-filled lesson for so many.

Do you dance in the parking lot on the way in to work? No, neither do I. Anyway, this brought a smile to my face. Tim’s Place. I would like to visit it. In spite of the fact that I’m not a terribly “huggy” type of person. (The video clip tells the whole story, but Tim has Down Syndrome and owns his own restaurant.)

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6He0FWoFj0]

The House of Commons will debate Mark Warawa’s motion to condemn sex selection abortion on March 28.

The very next day,  Conservative MP Mark Warawa‘s non-binding bid to get the House to collectively condemn the practice of sex-selective abortions will make its parliamentary debut — which, due to an unfortunate twist of timing, falls on the very same day that the Commons is set to adjourn for its annual two-week spring break, which will likely result in an even lighter-than-usual turnout in the Chamber for the first round of debate.

Sorry about the lack of blogging–although perhaps you didn’t even notice in light of Faye’s most excellent posts. I was away on vacation. Yes, it was warm. I thought about blogging, but “Hey, it’s almost too warm today” and “Blogging poolside” seemed like cruel things to write for a largely Canadian audience in late February.

Anyhoo, it’s back to the grind, as they say, and I must have missed this article by Barbara Kay about the different types of feminism so I’m linking to it now. Seems to me that we ought to be more aware of the different ways in which women can be empowered, instead of kowtowing to just one brand of feminism, with everyone else who thinks a little bit differently being relegated to the “misogynist” file. Which currently seems to be the trend.

Summers concludes that this champion of a feminism “that granted women the liberty to be themselves without ceasing to be women” might, if she had not been “brushed out of women’s history,” be a role model for many women today.

Persuasion. The lost art of. I thought this was a nice little piece on how to respectfully and thoughtfully convey truths you believe are important to those who disagree. I am not terribly good at this, by the way, though improving with age. (I can actually remember disagreeing with my classmates as early as grade two. Not terribly gracious, as I recall, at the time. I had not yet learned the art of Socratic dialogue.)

It was a great conference down at University of Toronto today with Toronto Right to Life and the many inspirational faces of high school students in attendance. I heard Rebecca Richmond of the National Campus Life Network talk about why we have pro-life clubs on campus or in high schools; she inspired us all to take it to a new level with being public on the issue. She too shared that she was very, very shy and preferred not to get in anyone’s face on this in her earlier days–that always surprises me, since I was pretty much similar and yet, there we are, speaking out on this politically incorrect issue.

The Sisters of Life are always a pleasure to hear and learn from; one of the sisters spoke on “Understanding the fears in the heart of a pregnant woman.” A good, thorough, compassionate look at how to “be” with a woman who is experiencing an unwanted pregnancy. Never, ever hurts to hear about how we are all actually wanted, whether our arrival on this earth was a surprise or not.

At the end, they played this song. I was a little embarrassed that it brought a tear to my eye, as I fearfully looked around to make sure that no one had seen. Must. Not. Cry. At. Country. Music. However, later on one of the sisters assured me that it makes her cry every time she sees it/hears the song. Which made me feel slightly better. Here it is: you can decide for yourself what you think!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP-Sxfntdb4]

It’s not one, and I’m going to be talking about this in Toronto tomorrow, thanks to an invitation from Toronto Right to Life, at a conference for high school students. I’ll also be discussing the hypocrisy of sex selection abortion. When I’m on the road, blogging will be light from me. But the lovely Faye Sonier will be posting, so check back for her posts.