Like Water

This is a depressing post, so please choose the time when you read it wisely. I'd hate to ruin your day through my carelessness.

I was ambling through one of the temples in my Kyoto Sunday morning stroll. Photography was permitted in all areas of the place except for one altar hut, which had an idol of a Buddha surrounded by stuffed animals--Pooh, Mickey and Pikachu crowded in on the stony guy as if trying to cheer him up with a big group hug.

This seemed intriguing, but I couldn't quite make out the meaning of the explanatory plaque, which ended with the characters for "[cold] H2O" and "child." So I asked one of the people staffing the place, and learned that the hut was built in memory of aborted babies. They were given that two-character euphemism because they came out like...well...right. And I could only shudder inside.

I think this issue has become so clouded over with rhetoric and ideology in America that both sides forget the very real human emotions and situations underlying the whole debate. For the record, though, I will say that I do not believe in justifying abortion access on the basis of forced-pregnancy cases, as this seems like the same kind of minority logic that would paint all would-be immigrants as illegal migrant workers.

And now a moment of silence for the hurting mothers with the memories they retain. Please fill it as you think best.