Man, I've been castigated. And it felt good.
I don't like Puritans. The whole anti-Puritan issue for me goes back to the Australian summer Olympics.
During news coverage of Australian society and its "hey, mate" values, a doctor running an authentic (i.e., unglamorous) drug addiction clinic in Sydney talked about his country's (preferable, in his view) attitude toward junk and junkies. Vs. the American approach, where HIV/AIDS is still routinely passed by needles (not an Australian problem; thank you, White House) and where one of every 100 U.S. males is now in jail, rotting and useless to the rest of society, mostly for drug-related offenses. A mind is a terrible thing to waste? Tell that to the "lock-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key" crowd.
"I'm so glad we were founded by convicts, not Puritans," the doctor smiled into the camera. I fell in love. Ditto, my liege.
Maybe it's from living in Rhode Island all this time. Founder Roger Williams fled the Puritanical attitude.
Me, also. Puritans being, by my definition, all those who feel they deserve -- thanks to their Christian (or Muslim, for that matter) tenets -- a right to stick their noses into other people's lives and lay down the law -- from on high. That part's important.
The issues have always been life and death with the Puritans. Don't think for a moment that Puritans didn't argue just as vehemently, with zero compromise or doubt, why witches should be agonizingly burned bound to a wooden pole in the town square. Zero doubt then. Zero doubt now that removing abortion from the menu will do mankind (it's a patriarchal thing) a favor.
Which brings me back to my castigation.
At the national Child Advocacy Center conference in Washington, DC, I made a comment.
Making comments is a BAD idea when you're a presenter. You were invited for your pragmatic how-to's. E.g.: "How do we make our newsletter produce $50,000 in charitable gifts per issue instead of $5,000 per issue, like that Minnesota hospital you trained?"
Personal commentary? Don't! And then there's real life.
I said it. After yet another Planned Parenthood slide came on screen as an example of "best practices." I commented to my audience, "You know, Planned Parenthood is NOT about abortions. It's about preventing unloved children."
So. Predictably. I get this email a day later. Tells me how good the workshops were. "Very helpful!" Pause. "But I want to tell you something you might not realize."
Sudden Topic Switch Syndrome: STSS.
Now he's being the helpful counselor, his arm draped fragrantly across my shoulder.
Understand. I'm over 60. Or "post-young," as Krishna terms it. (More about her in another blog.)
I've heard this before.
It's the awkward opening that self-satisfied and supremely confident (as in: supreme being) people use, to pretend fellowship with a deluded enemy.
That would be me. I am the idiot enemy. I use too many examples from Planned Parenthood in my presentation, I'm being told (chastised). I should be aware that "many" of those in the child advocacy movement "abhor" Planned Parenthood.
We'll leave unexamined the connection between unwanted children and child abuse.
I respond by email, "I love my mistakes. They teach so much more than my safe stuff."
I congratulate the complainant for his courage bringing up a tough topic. I apologize for any discomfort he's endured.
I never hear back. Which is another thing about Puritans: self-righteous AND rude. As people go, there's really not that much to work with.
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