petit compaore

Like I put in Sonia's blog, I am contemplating signing out of Facebook, which would likely mean I could not sign in again, as I changed my password, do not remember it, and used an old email address I can no longer access to create the account in the first place. Facebook is getting to be a big waste of time for me, I feel like. There is so much to do and I don't need to waste hours there. But, before I do that, I wanted to make sure I get any of Isaac's quotes on here so I have them somewhere, accessible.

November 23
Isaac: Mom, what does kid-tested mean? (From the Kix box)
Me: Hmmm, what do you think it means? What about the first part? What does kid mean?
Isaac: Child.
Me: Great! How about tested? What do you think that means?
Isaac: Um, they tested it on the kids?
Me: Okay, but what does tested mean though, not using the word tested?
Isaac: Um...so it means kids tasted it and they saw it wasn't poisonous?

October 27
(On the second grade spelling words list)
Isaac: Mama, these are really hard core words!

May 5
In the car, driving and listening to Abiyoyo.
Pete Seeger:...a foolish grin spread over his face.
Isaac: And then he took a selfie.

February 11
Me: I like how my hair is wavy under the top layer. If I could just get it to do this all the way down.
Isaac: You could braid it. Then you could take the braid out and voila!
Me: This is true.
Isaac: Yeah, like you did on London's hair.
Me: Nice point, Mr. I know more about hair than my mother. But my hair just does this, like when I let it dry, it dries wavy under the top layer. Just not all the way down the length of the hair.
Isaac: Keep it moist.

2015

October 10 - I used to call her Zonia. But I don't do that anymore. Cause Zonia is the last name of Lasagna."

September 3 - Sometimes there is a so tiny wind that a human's skin cannot feel it.

June 6 - Papa, spell "I cup"...

February 26 - Sweet little Isaac really wanted me to read the book he brought home from school yesterday. It is a Level 1 reading book and is called Wall-E Smash Trash. It appears to talk about a typical day in Wall-E's life. Disclaimer, we have not ever watched the movie Wall-E. I noticed Wall-E looked sad both at the beginning and end of the book. Shouldn't have said anything.
Me: Oh, Wall-E still looks sad here. Poor Wall-E!
Isaac: I know. He looks so sad, it almost made me cry.
(10 seconds later)
Isaac: (full on sobbing) It's SO SAD! Wall-E is all alone! He doesn't have any friends! It's just so sad..... :(
Poor little guy! I just love his sensitive little heart!

February 8 - Isaac on how there are oceans instead of the whole earth being land:
"God made rain and it pushed the sand down too much."

February 8 - Isaac picks up a book I had in the car in Spanish, opens it and reads "con" correctly.
Me: Oh yeah, I could show you how to read Spanish. It's a lot easier to read than English because there are only five vowel sounds.
Isaac, after a pause: Yeah, but English is easier for me to understand.


January 18 - A London quote.
London: I REALLY need a pickle! (as she takes a huge jar out of the fridge) I haven't had one in DAAAAYS.
Anna: Let's not eat too many pickles or you will get an overload of salt.
London: I haven't ate these in days.

January 14 - Isaac quote of the day, on the subject of younger siblings:
"First we practice on Sonia. She's a little one."

January 10 -
Isaac: Sonia's a party pooper! Sonia's a party pooper!
Me: Isaac, do you even know what a party pooper is?
Isaac: Of course! It's a person who goes to parties and poops in corners!

2014 --

December 8 - Isaac is obsessed with spelling right now. This is what I overheard this weekend:
Isaac: C-K-W-I-T... quit... I-T  -  S-O-N-I-A! Quit it Sonia!
Until this year I never realized how much I enjoy invented spelling.

November 9 - Mama, I tried applesauce at school with cinnamon and sugar, and guess what? I L-O-V-E applesauce! (which is amazing because he did not prior to this)
Me: What? YOU, Isaac, like applesauce? Really?
Isaac: No, I don't like applesauce, Mama. I L-O-V-E it.

November 1 - Mama, why do you only have two childs? MOST people have three, or four childs. Your mama had four.

September 19 - You don't want to hurt people on the outside or the inside. I know how you can hurt people on the inside. If I was playing with Braelyn and some other kids said, "Stop playing with Braelyn!", that would hurt my feelings. That's hurting on the inside.

September 6 - (as we eat our continental breakfast in a room of other people)
Isaac: Mama, are you constipated??
Me: Um. No. Do you know what constipated means?
Isaac: No.
Me: (after explanation) I think you meant congested. I am a little. Are you too?

August 22 - Rabbits are little predators that eat carrots.

August 11 - Isaac does not get to watch a movie with his friends and he is very sad about this (just my rule that we don't do movies on weekdays). He says, "I wish I was never on this earth! It feels like knives are going into my eyes and my heart and my face!" This is WHY we don't watch movies during the week. The level of drama is unreal. Why the friends cannot just come outside and play I don't know.

May 10 -
Me: We need to brush our teeth.
Isaac: Ugh, I don't want to.
Me: Well, teeth are important!
Isaac: They're not the importantest thing in the world. The Easter Bunny is. And God.

April 27 - Isaac informed me that he changed Sonia's diaper for me and also that the governor steals people's money, including my own, and that once the governor stole his teacher's money. He said if the governor wants to come over for a playdate or something, he will be sure to hide his money so the governor cannot steal it.

April 12 - context: discussion about crud bumps.
Me: Sometimes stuff gets stuck in your tonsils, then it comes out as a little ball.
Isaac: That is funny!
Me: Kind of, but it's nasty and it smells bad.
Isaac: Oh, that sounds like of like a fur ball.
.....
Isaac: Mama, have you ever coughed up a fur ball?

April 11 - Mama, does the sun stink?

April 7 - They're gonna cut the trees from relaxing on the wire.

February 22 - Me: How did you like your swim lessons, Isaac?
Isaac: Good!
Me: Your teacher seems nice.
Isaac: She is soooooo nice! I think I might fall in love with her.

February 20 - Talking about pennies:
Isaac: And who's on this penny? Abraham Lincoln!
Me: Yep!
Isaac: And on this one? Abraham Lincoln again??!?
Me: Isaac, Abraham Lincoln is on every penny.
Isaac: Is your SUPERVISOR on every penny?
Me:?! My supervisor isn't Abraham Lincoln.
Isaac: Hm. Mama, can grils be president?

February 13 - Isaac brings me a penny:
Isaac: Mama, what does this say?
Me: One cent.
Isaac: No, this part.
Me: United States of America.
Isaac turns the coin over: And this guy, is he.... George Marley?
I just have to kiss this little guy!

January 26 - (London) London brings three pennies into the bathroom and sets them on the counter, so Sonia can't get them.
Me: Thank you for putting these up here so Sonia won't get them.
London: Yes, she might put them in her mouth. You remember Poompa, he had one and it got stuck in his throat and they couldn't get it out! If Sonia swallows one, she won't be able to talk very good.

January 25 - Last night, before going to sleep, Isaac says:
"Mama....Next time when I see Santa, I am going to apologize to him."
Me: Apologize? What for?
Isaac: Because I forgot to give his reindeer their snacks.... (when we went to see Santa, they had us make some reindeer snacks to sprinkle on our lawn)
Me: It's okay, I'm sure they got plenty of snacks. You can apologize if you want, but I think Santa doesn't mind.
Isaac: But I forgot, and the reindeer didn't have any food.... (very sad)
Me: Okay.
Isaac: I think I'm going to cry.
Then he silently started sobbing. I had to tell him we could write a letter to Santa tomorrow if that would make him feel better. Poor sensitive little sweet guy.

2013 -

September 14 - When I am a grown up, on the very first day, I will put on my best clothes, an dI will go find a woman to marry.

August 21 -
London: Isaac, I'm gonna get you a gun!
Isaac: Yeah, then we can go hunt some deers together!
Clearly Bambi has had the opposite effect....

August 19 - Development of theory of mind: incomplete
Isaac's friend, Koty: Mama? (in a concerned voice) Mama?
Isaac: Koty, do you want your Mama or my Mama?

August 17 - Context: getting a kid's sandwich at Subway
Subway guy to Isaac: Hot or cold?
Isaac: Uh....just right.

August 10 -
Henri: Yes, you were born in Corvallis. And do you know where Sonia was born?
Isaac: Uh... Salem PeaceHealthspital! (Sonia was actually born at Riverbend)

August 4 - What I heard upon dropping Isaac off at school on Friday: (A little girl came over to him)
Isaac, I need to have a conversation with you. If you don't want to marry me, that's OKAY! You just need to tell me. It's okay if you don't want to marry me, but just tell me, all right?
Isaac got the deer-in-the-headlights look.

July 6 - How bout our house be's REALLY clean like Uncle Chris's?

June 6 - And the bronchiolitis and the stegosaurus were there, and another friend bronchiolitis...

May 30 - Now that Isaac can say /th/, he is really good a faking a frontal lisp. I asked, "Isaac, are you doing this just to drive me crazy??" "YES!!!!!" he gleefully replied. He can also fake s-cluster reduction if you would ever like to hear it.

May 22 - The Hulk is stronger than Thor. And you know who is stronger than the Hulk? My papa. He can wrestle the Hulk almost to the ground.

In other news, I taught Isaac how to say /th/ this morning and now he can say it at the beginning of single words after a model. I totally did not mean to do speech therapy on my four-year-old but we had a big discussion about how the superhero's name was Thor and not For, as his classmate had told him, and one thing led to another....

May 19 -
Isaac: Mama, is Sonia a boy?
Me: No, she is a girl.
Isaac: Then why does she not have long hair?

May 18 - Isaac just sat on Sonia's bottom (lightly) and she farted. Of course that is the funniest thing in the whole world to an almost-4-year-old.

April 21- Isaac "The Boss" Compaore says I could take "maybe a 30 minute nap," but "after you finish all the chores." Okay, evil stepmother son. ;P

April 19 -
Me: I've got this song stuck in my head now....
Isaac: Can I see it?

April 12 - Context: We have an ongoing ant problem. I swear there must be a nest in the wall, because they keep coming back. I do not love ants.)
Isaac: Mama, a long long time ago, my Papa and I were reading a book about reptiles and there is one with these poky things coming off that eats ants.
Me: Oh really?
Isaac: Yeah. We need to get one of them and bring it to our house and then leave.
Me: Why do we need to leave?
Isaac: Because it can bite people.
Me: Hm, I've never heard of this reptile, but it sounds like a good idea. Wait, do you mean an anteater?
Isaac: Yeah! It has a really really long tongue so it can get in the carpet to eat the ants!
Anteater, you are pre-approved for a visit to our house whenever you like. I didn't think anteaters bit people though.

April 7 - Isaac loves Sonia so much! He said this morning: "I will use my money to buy toys for Sonia!" I asked him what he thought she would like to have. "A tractor set!" he replied. "Sonia, I am going to get you a tractor set with my 3 coins!" I love this kid.

April 1 - We a four family!

March 9 - Isaac saw a picture of some hockey players: "Look, mom, it's the hockey fight!"

February 19 - This is the mama worm. She looks really... mama-lous.

When I try to go past this point, Facebook crashes. Oh well, at least we have multiple years of good laughs!

Oh wait, maybe I can pull some of it from the activity log! Let's give it a shot!

February 17 - Me: Hey look, here are some footprints. What animal do you think made these footprints. They have claws.
Isaac: Hm, it must have been a crocodile.
Me: Do you think a crocodile really came through here? (Corner of 18th and City View)
Isaac (completely serious): Yeah.

February 14 - Why I love preschoolers:
This morning, I went into Isaac's classroom. I was reading a book to some kids, and holding Sonia on my shoulder. Two kids were listening, two were interacting with Sonia. Line in the book: "The clock struck seven, his real name was Kevin.."
Preschoolers: "Wait, his name is really Kevin?" (referring to Sonia)
Me: "Haha, no, the mouse in the story. I guess his name is Kevin."
Preschoolers (completely ignoring that information): to Sonia "Hi Kevin!" x 25

February 7 - Because there is no such thing as a day without a good Isaac quote...
Isaac is aware that he is half Bissa. I thought it was time to make him more aware of his other ethnic background.
Me: Isaac, did you know that on Mama's side there are a lot of different ethnicities? My grandmas and grandpas came from many different places. So I am Portuguese, Swiss, Italian, Irish, German, Norwegian and Swedish. That's what's in my background."
Isaac: "That's in your backyard?" (puzzled look)
Discussion postponed.

February 5 - Evidence that they can eventually learn. Isaac was singing around the house on Sunday morning: "I will not rub my mama's tummy until my hands are much..more..gooder! I will not rub my mama's tummy until my hands are much warmer!"

February 2 - Me: I'm going to a baby shower. And I have to take Sonia.
Isaac: Is Sonia going to take a shower?

January 30 - Isaac this morning on his dreams: I was dreaming about London...but then my dream wanted to dream about bad monsters. So I gave my bad dream a timeout from dreaming that."

January 30 - (context: Isaac is eating hotdogs, I am eating grapefruit)
Isaac: You can make sausages from many kinds of meat.
Me: That is true. What kind of meat do you think these sausages are made from?
Isaac: Um... cantaloupe!
Me: (What? Is he talking about the grapefruit?) Hm... no, grapefruit doesn't come from cantaloupe. It is its own fruit.
Isaac: No, cantaloupe is an animal!
Me: Isaac, cantaloupe is a fruit.
Isaac: Cantaloupe is an animal on the TV.
Me: Oh, ANTelope?
Isaac: Yeah, antelope.
Me: No, sweetheart, I don't think your hot dog is made of antelope. Maybe turkey.

January 25 - Me: I think she does food science (talking to my dad)
Isaac: Does she speak food?

January 13 - I was explaining to Isaac what a merchant was. Then he asked: "Is Papa a merchant?"
Me: Well, no. Well, I guess kind of. He does buy and sell things, in a way.
Isaac: Are you a merchant too?
Me: No, I'm more like a teacher. Definitely not a merchant though.
Isaac: You not a teacher! You just a mommy!

January 6 - Me: Boompa likes bissap (hibiscus drink) a lot.
Isaac: Boompa doesn't speak bissap (he means "Bissa", the language). Mama doesn't speak bissap either.
Papa: I speak Bissa.
Isaac: And I speak half bissap.

2012-

December 17 - Isaac and Henri don't like chocolate. (This has since changed, by the way, at least for Isaac.) Case in point:
Isaac: She (baby Sonia) smells like chocolate.
Me: Yes, she just smells so good, doesn't she?
Isaac: No. She smells like chocolate.

December 14 - So, on the way home, Isaac and I were having a conversation about different cities. I asked, "Where does Uncle Greggy live?"
Isaac: "Portland!"
Isaac: "We have been to Portland."
Me: "That's right, we have. Let me think, what did we do last time we went there?"
Isaac: "Me and Uncle Greggy, we had all the fun we could have!"

December 14 - "There are so many KALE (hail) at our house!"

December 11 - "I'm gonna snickerdoodle through this" (I think he meant sneak)
" I'm going to chuckle the chair back over here" (push)

December 5 - Mama, take me to gymnastics and leave me there.

November 22 - (about Sonia, while sleeping): She is thinking about me. But I am already here.

November 11 - A ladder is a tool you use for climbing.

October 27 - Me: Isaac, who is in the presidential race? Who's running? Do you know?
Isaac: Uncle Mikey!

October 18 - Isaac: What's a stepmother?
Me: A mother who is not your biological mother.
Isaac: Are you my magical mama?

October 3 - Isaac: Big brothers go to high school. But sisters don't go to high school.
Me: Oh really?? (Thinking, hm, what is this kid going to say?)
Isaac: Yeah. Sisters go to college.

September 24 -
Isaac: I like this hanitizer.
Me: Oh, the hand santizer?
Isaac: Yeah, the hand... hanitizer.

August 27 - Discovery of the day: Isaac can peel garlic cloves with amazing dexterity. YES.

August 22 - "I hode under the blanket."

August 9 - Nana: Isaac, would you like a little hamburger?
Isaac: No thanks, I choose life.

August 4 -
Papa: Do you want to stay at the park? We could pick you up tomorrow morning.
Isaac: No, I want to come home. I want to be with good people who take care of me.

August 2 - Isaac: Nana, can I have some strawberry milk?
Nana: Yes, in just a few minutes.
A few minutes later, after no strawberry milk has been presented.
Isaac: Gina's mom, can I have some strawberry milk?

June 18 - Me: It is so fun to dress you, London, because Isaac doesn't get to wear dresses.
Isaac: Yeah, I'm too big for dresses.
Me: Well, usually boys don't wear dresses, sweetheart.
Isaac: Yeah, boys don't wear dresses. They wear princess pants.

June 5 - Isaac got up by himself to use the restroom last night!

May 27 - I'm a big floss (sloth). I move very fast! I'm a floss with poky fingernails.

April 30 - Mama, when I grow up, I want you to show me how to go to college.

April 26 - Isaac's comment on our garden this past weekend: "The dandelions will not let our garden go away from them."

April 11 - Papa: You need to keep your food on the table because God made it and he will be mad if you throw it away.
Isaac: God made food? But I don't like food.

March 4 - Isaac's word substitution of the week:  "floss" for "sloth"

January 22 - The story of a true Oregonian: The sun peeks out from behind the clouds, or maybe just shines through less clouds, as we walk out of Fred Meyer (with our reusable shopping bag, of course). Isaac buries his face in my skirt and complains, "MAMA! IT'S TOO BRIGHT! IT'S HURTING MY EYES!"

January 21 - Isaac on milk in a bottle: "It keeps the tears from coming out."

2011-

December 9 - (context: I'm cleaning out my wallet)
Isaac: Mama, what's this for? (gift card to Pottery Barn, where we have never been)
Me: Oh, that's for Pottery Barn.
Isaac: Oh, I used to go to Pottery Barn!

November 29 - Mama, our house needs some songs!

November 20 - The sweetest checker lady every at Fred Meyer gave Isaac his own little bag for his broccoli tonight. He was beside himself with happiness.

November 16 - Me: Isaac, why did you want to buy a cookie if you didn't want to eat it?
-long pause -
Isaac: I just wanna look at it.

November 1 - Isaac: Mama, you can have a turn when I'm done (eating a sucker).
My thought: Nice embedded adverbial clause, Isaac, but no thanks.

September 7 - Isaac: Papa, where are you from?
Papa: I'm from Africa. Where are you from?
Isaac: Um... I'm from Fred Meyer!

August 27 - Mama, you're a big elephant. Papa, you're Cinderella.

June 24 - Isaac stepped in dog poop for the first time. It was just awful.

May 23 - Today Isaac astounded his pediatrician at his well-child check by correctly responding to the question, "Where is your philtrum?"

May 13 - Isaac and I saw a beaver for the first time yesterday! It was so cute!

March 19 - London got baptized!

February 25 - coalescence + book on fire trucks = plenty of laughs and a good evening.

2010-

July 10 - Pool party au naturel! For 14 months or younger only....

2009-
November 12 - Isaac just started reduplicated babbling today! (uhdaedaedae and aegaegaegae)

I don't usually post like this (or do I even post anymore? I've gotten so bad at blogging), but I keep thinking I would like to write down what it means to me to be pro-life. It's going to be super long, because I have insomnia right now. So, don't read it if you are worried about being offended or you are going to go off on me too much. This is by me for me, and day by day, in small, age-appropriate pieces, for my kids.

I know that generally, pro-life means you are against abortion. That is a great start, and a very important piece, because, well, if people don't get a chance to live in the first place, all the rest of it doesn't really matter.

I guess I was thinking about this extra hard (although I have definitely wanted to write it down before) because a friend said something to the effect of, "I don't understand how people can be anti-abortion and pro-fertility treatments," because maybe there should be some balance as far as the big population picture is concerned. Okay, point considered.

So, I have to say first of all, killing someone is just not okay for someone who is hardcore pro-life, so that does have to trump other things. However, being Catholic as well, yes, we are pro-life and we don't believe IVF is morally acceptable. I do definitely agree with the consistency of following God's plan for the universe this way. If the babies make it into the world, let them come. Ideally you would wait until you are married before you try to make this happen. If the babies aren't coming, why are we creating them in labs? Aren't we supposed to have some issue with overpopulation (says some science)? Why are we spending lots of money to create new people when there are so many people in poverty in the world that could use a leg up? Or just plain kids out there already who need loving homes? It honestly doesn't make sense. Granted, I understand how this stance on IVF makes people's feelings hurt if they are experiencing low fertility as a couple. But, maybe as a society we should move away from how something "makes people feel" as the ultimate litmus test of if it is ethical or morally right.

However, once someone is created via IVF, then we still have to honor them as a person, because, in fact, they are. So, it does make a bit of a dilemma, because I do not believe the process that created a person is morally sound, but, they are a person nonetheless with equal personhood rights as anyone else. However, if you feel like, well, we just can't respect someone who is created in an immoral way, babies are born out of wedlock all the time. Is it "morally right" to have been conceiving this child without a stable set of parents for them to be born to? Probably not. Is it an ideal situation for the child? Probably not. Does it make the child less valuable? No, absolutely not. The child still is worth as much as any other child.

Okay, so let's go through what it means to me to be pro-life:

First - I am anti-abortion. It simply does not make sense that what the majority of society would rejoice over as their baby in the early stages of development can also be presented as disposable tissue. It is both idiocy and blindness to adopt the viewpoint of the baby as not actually a baby. There are so many resources explaining the anti-abortion viewpoint, but if you have any scientific sense (or even just a brain might be enough), you must realize that the entity inside the mother is both genetically distinct and is Homo sapiens, due to the number and type of chromosomes. Also, it will continue to develop towards an independent physical state of infancy if left to its own devices, barring genetic or developmental differences that do not allow the person to reach that stage of development. You don't have to be a developmental pediatrician to figure this one out.

Next, I am especially against aborting people who do have genetic differences based on their difference. This seems to somehow be okay to people even when "regular abortion" is not. It is so wrong to be systematically exterminating one of our sources of neurodiversity. I have to completely disagree that people with genetic or neurological differences are somehow worth less than other people. I in fact believe that every person has equal human worth. Many people disagree with me on this point, but that is the position I hold. The homeless guy on the street is of as much human worth as Donald Trump. The nonverbal child with Down Syndrome is as of much human worth as Hillary Clinton. (In fact, possibly of more worth, although that is a matter of opinion). The problem is for many of us that we don't know how to value and appreciate and reach out to the first people in each of the sets. This is a journey we have to take both personally and as a society, but it does not mean we need to be killing people we perceive as a burden to society until we can feel comfortable with them.

Along with this, I believe it is very, very important to instill in my children the worth of every person who is different from them. Isaac in particular has started noticing children with physical or neurological differences in his class. I try to validate his observations and also try to provide a different perspective. For example, I actually observed his class earlier this year, and noted one of these children did not have a way to communicate anything of value with others. Isaac pointed out that the kid makes loud noises and it gets the attention of others in the class and they laugh and it bothers the teacher. I said, "Well, if you couldn't talk and you wanted to interact with your classmates, would you do something silly to make them laugh too?" He decided that, yes, he probably would. I hope he feels like he can keep having these conversations with me, because of course, on a different vein, I feel quite strongly about access to augmentative and alternative communication for everyone who cannot meet their communication needs verbally. You can go here and click "Communication Bill of Rights" if you want to delve into that further.

So, where are we? Getting to birth. Obviously I am anti- any sort of thing that would kill those children someone just worked so hard to bring into the world. So, war would be one of those things. I do find this challenging, because most people say, "Thanks to our service men and women, our country is free." Since we have never tried an alternative, I guess we won't know the truth of that statement. However, I feel like the U.S. has enough weight in the world that we could also effectively do this from a defensive, rather than an offensive, stance. I am anti-war, because I am pro-life, and war kills people before God decides it is their time. It is challenging to consider situations like Syria, where it seems like we should probably just go kill the people that are killing all the other people, but unfortunately, I am sure it is much more complex than a simple "kill the bad guys" solution. (On a side note, I think we should definitely be trying this more complex solution rather than just standing by.) There are people on one hand who either are extremely power-greedy or hungry and/or believe that their viewpoint is a valid one. There are also people who have an opposing viewpoint, which may have some validity too. I think we have to start solving some of these modern-day crises with modern-day solutions, which are going to have to include dialogue. Although, given the utterly base reaction most people who I thought were open-minded have had to the recent election, this will clearly have to be a very select group of people who are actually open-minded, to have this dialogue with people who are probably not understanding and open-minded themselves (since they have chosen to kill people to try to solve their issues) and figure out what can be done so that the different groups of people can stop trying to kill each other to solve their problems. It will also take a lot of humility, so that the best solution can actually be attempted. This is probably why we normally just go with the "let's kill them" routine. I also don't know why we are so involved in other countries' problems. I think by trying to proactively stop issues that might affect us, we also create a lot of problems. Look at CIA involvement in Africa, the taking-out of Khadafi which destabilized the entire Sahara/Sahel region, even campaigns in the Middle East. Later, we were like, "Oops, I guess we let this other faction rise to power that was worse than the other." So, this one is more complicated to actually put into practice, because no one wants to stand by and let someone with a mental illness systematically kill other people off, but I'm not sure killing (even planned take-out of just an evil dictator or two) is the way to fix the problem. Until I can be convinced that killing other people is indeed the way to get them to stop killing people (haha, I guess it does keep those specific people from killing other people, but not necessarily the larger group), I'm going to remain anti-war. I'm sorry, I don't support our troops killing people.

Then, I guess we can move on to the next obvious human-caused-death option, capital punishment. Surprise! I'm also anti-death penalty. I don't think I would have thought as hard about this had I not had someone very close to me go through the prison system, but honestly, it is a broken system. You get in once and your chances at having a normal life after that do pretty much pre-dispose you to choosing a criminal way of making a living. It's hard to get a job, even rent a place. But you don't want to be homeless, and you have to pay for the place you are living in. So what do you do? Also, many people that are in the system, again, make up part of our neurodiversity. We haven't yet figured out the best way to help many of these people see their importance as part of the big picture, and we can easily downplay their importance, leading them to be more likely to make less ideal choices, or just the wrong choices, because they didn't have the skills they needed to make it through. I get it that it's expensive to keep someone locked up for the rest of their life. I just don't feel like a life for a life really gets us anywhere. Yes, I think we need to pay to lock people up for the rest of their lives if they really are that dangerous. And we need to make a big shift in the way we approach education and recognize human worth. I do like some of the work they have been doing with Collaborative Problem Solving, which we were trained on at my previous job. The idea is that there is a set of skills we all need to be successful in life (related to flexibility, problem solving, language, etc), and if someone is behind in their development of a specific skill, maybe that's where we should focus our intervention, so they can learn the skill they need to be successful, rather than trying to stamp out their behavior. The behavior is happening because of a lagging skill.

Sterilization I'll just touch on briefly, because it's not really a pro-life thing unless you want it to be. Actually, it totally is, philosophically, but I can have the following understanding of others' choices without buying into it myself.  I am definitely anti-forced sterilization and believe it is a massive human rights violation. This applies to every and any person - no one should force someone to undergo that. China, take note. Oh wait, you don't care about human rights violations. Voluntary sterilization I believe is more responsible than abortion, so if you have decided you don't want to have kids, but you also don't want to stop doing what leads to kids, I guess sterilization has a bit more merit because you are not killing someone who already exists (although philosophically it would be preferable to just make up your mind about what you want, act accordingly, like, hello, Natural Family Planning?, and not alter your body), so there you go.

Moving on, any other killing for convenience or whatever is not acceptable to me. So, I am anti-murder for whatever reason might happen in the next 30-50 years of a person's life. Drug and alcohol abuse are not ideal because they kill you slowly. Smoking too.

I'm anti-suicide because, again, I believe that you have innate human worth and you should not be able to choose when you go. Also, it really upsets the people that love you and is just plain cruel to them. In this case, their feelings do count, okay?

I am pro-environment to the extent that we all live on this planet, and we must consider the impact of our daily actions on our planet, so that other people may also live. Animal life is also good to preserve, and biodiversity is pretty cool and helps us appreciate the beauty of our world and importance of taking care of it, but human life is even more important. When we kill our natural world, we do wrong to those living in poverty. If you are barely scraping by, you are not going to spend money to plant a tree to improve your quality of life from its shade and air-quality enhancement properties. This is why I get pretty irritated when, for example, the neighbor up the street a few houses wants to convince the owner of the apartments to cut down some large trees so he can have a better view of Mount Hood. If you want a better view of Hood, pony up the $$, man. Buy a property with a guaranteed view of Mt. Hood. Don't try to sneak it by cutting down a bunch of trees that enhance others' quality of life. I also try not to buy from China when possible (it's really hard, guys) especially there is an option from somewhere else, because, besides their other human rights violations, the government sure doesn't seem to care a lot about their environment. If it kills everyone living there, they don't frankly give a hoot.

And finally, I'm anti-euthanasia. I still believe that, consistent with the rest of my views (gee, I hope so; if I'm not consistent, please let me know), people have equal human worth regardless of any factors, including if they are old and are, again, perceived by some to be a "burden" to society. I believe the elderly should be respected, even though, for a while, this will be a challenge for us because some of the baby boomers have views about children that are downright weird (like, they actually seem to hate children playing and *shocker* being kids, and are massive helicopter-parenting advocates), we still can't kill them off just because they are annoying or senile. I know some people believe it is their right to end their life when they choose. I disagree. I think that the only Person with that right is God. I might have to suffer a lot at the end of my life. Because of my faith, I can offer that suffering up for the souls in Purgatory and the like. Even if you don't have the faith thing going for you, think of it this way. It might be uncomfortable or painful or incredibly frustrating if you lose abilities you once had, but no one knows what death is like really, so why would you choose uncertainty over certainty? At least you know what you are experiencing at the moment. Also, just based on the sheer potential for people to use euthanasia/elder-killing as a reason to off their "burdensome" older relatives, I have to reject it.

Wow, that feels pretty thorough. Maybe some other day I'll get to what I think are some of the root causes of the anti-life sentiments present in society, but, teaser, I think it comes down to Barbie and productivity. At least, that's where I'm at right now.

And maybe, maybe, I might try to post a little over Christmas break. It would be good to do some catching-up!