tidwell « Robin Writes

Last week, on the way to the farm, my husband wanted to look at tractors.

I should have known. Every time he says “look,” we end up buying. Especially when he repeats, presumably for MY benefit: we’re JUST looking!

We stopped at the first dealership and looked at a few models and few implements; we stopped at the second dealership and looked at a couple more.

By the time we got back on the road, we were expecting a Friday delivery of this:

And this:

And of course, that meant we had to add another thing to our to-do list—cleaning up the barn.

I’m starting to think that we need a bigger barn . . .

Naturally, tractor shopping is very tiring, so we were going to put in a movie and hit the sack early when we started hearing music. Normally, our neighbor will crank it up and we can hear it outside—which is fine, it’s good music—but this time we were inside with all the windows and doors closed.

Turns out, he didn’t even realize we were there, and they were having a bonfire up near the road, burning more of our old house. So we joined them.

Sadly, we also learned of an auction in town the next day:

Well, that took care of Saturday’s work plans, although we did get in some painting [shudder] and a couple other errands—oh, and cleaned up the barn.

Very long day . . .

We did finish the office, except for floors, and were able to move our “campsite” back in there. Maybe, just maybe, this coming weekend will see new ceiling fans and the sanding and painting finished.

Maybe.

I was out and about yesterday and happened to check Facebook mid-afternoon, when I saw a post about the Oregon college shooting. There wasn’t much online at that point, but stories trickled in over the rest of the day.

Horrific, yes. Very sad, yes. But the damn gun didn’t fire itself. The crazy dude did it. How did he get a gun? I don’t know. Could someone else, with a gun, have taken him out before he could kill people? I don’t know that either; sometimes, as we see on the news, that happens. I tend to think many who carry would be just as terrified as someone who didn’t, and that, of course, would limit their actions.

But it’s pretty obvious that having a “gun-free zone” doesn’t work very well. Bad guys work around the rules, that’s why they’re called “bad” guys. You go into a bank, you don’t try to rob the place because you’re not a “bad” guy; he’ll go in the bank and try to rob it anyway.

Not like he went to a gun store and bought a gun, although maybe he did. There are loopholes; mistakes are made. Many crimes here in STL, however, are committed with stolen firearms.

That’s ‘cause we have bad guys, everywhere.

I know all the arguments; we’ve all heard them, over and over. I’m okay with hearing a fresh take on an issue, but I’m not okay with skewing statistics to prove a point as in several articles I’ve read recently.

Fact: Killing innocent people is wrong.

I think we can all agree with that.

But for a country in which many citizens believe it’s okay to murder a baby in the womb, why are we surprised when someone thinks it’s okay to shoot people?

Those who believe in abortion don’t think that that a fetus is actually a human being—or, they think the baby’s rights are less than that of the mother, the mother who chose to have sex (please, spare me the stats on rape victims and pregnancy or even failed birth control; the old saying “there’s an exception for every rule” applies across the board).

Look, most people think that sex is great—people think a lot of things are great, but that doesn’t mean we have a “right” to do those things. Even if we do, for every action, in any situation, there’s a consequence:

Get drunk, risk having an accident;

Steal something, risk arrest;

Have sex, you could get pregnant.

All of these things are your choice. THAT is your choice, and your choice extends to fixing the “problem,” but only if it doesn’t infringe on another’s rights.

If you get drunk and have an accident, you pay fines, repairs, living with guilt, possibly prison time. You might be able to alleviate those consequences, but the point is that YOU are paying for your choice. Steal and face arrest, same things apply.

For those who believe abortion is wrong, that it’s killing another human being, the consequence you may face for having sex is pregnancy and parenthood.

For those who think abortion is a good solution, you have a “procedure” and that’s it, one and done. In effect, you have no consequence. But that’s not how things should work, right?

I mean, if you believe it’s okay to kill an innocent child, why are you so adamant that we do away with guns because sometimes someone opens fire on innocent students or bystanders or anyone else?