Activists

I usually use this blogspot for sharing what's going on in the Schill family world with everyone but something is on my mind and that doesn't happen much anymore so I feel compelled to write about it.... What is the deal with "activists"? They are driving me crazy! It seems that there are activists for everything nowadays. Animal activists, child activists, feminist activists (what is that anyways?). It's not even that I disagree with all the activist causes, I usually believe the same things they do, but they are so in-your-face about their cause that it makes me want to be against things that I previously stood for. Let's take our child activists: they are all against child abuse. Do we really need a group to be against child abuse? Is anyone actually for child abuse? Obviously I am all for locking up a child abuser and throwing away the key, and then shooting them anyways, just for fun (the gun control activists would have a hayday with that one!). So why do I become offended and annoyed when someone finds it neccessary to tell me not to abuse my child? Let's take my cute little gal Gemma. Her first teeth came in when she was 5 months old and her second set actually peeked through this morning. She also refuses a bottle so I am still breastfeeding her. For obvious reasons breastfeeding someone with teeth can become a problem. We had a few "incidents" in the begining. Gemma would experiment with her pearly whites and I became a new chew toy. After a few times, I realized I had two choices: either quit breastfeeding or find a way to make the biting stop immediately. The next time Gemma did it, I was poised and ready. I gave her a quick flick on her cheek with my finger, she looked at me stunned - and you know what? She has never bitten me again...not once. Child activists across the world are shunning me. I have had three people discuss it with me as if it is their business. They classify this as spanking and therefore wrong. They would rather you rationalize with your child and tell her why her actions are wrong....nevermind that she is 5 months old! Surprisingly, their methods don't work so they had to stop breastfeeding their 5-month-old early (which is BTW, against what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends) while Gemma and I are still happily going with it. Anyway...I digress. It appalls me that people find it their duty to tell me how to raise my child. But I can't hear them because their 4-year-old is busy running around screaming and yelling, pulling books off of shelves in the library completely out of control, but not to worry...their parents will have a talk with them later. Animal activists might be my most favorite people. Some people who think it's cruel that I don't allow my dog to sleep in the bed with me also think that they have the right to tell me they think it's wrong. (Nevermind that he has a nice warm, cozy bed - right next to ours. Did I also mention that our dog eats his own poop and is a bed hog?) I think it's gross and I don't want a poop-eating, bed-hogging little space heater sleeping next to me. My dog is treated amazingly well, just like a dog should be, but I also realize that he is a dog and not a human. I am tired of "animal activists" poopoo-ing (no pun intended) the idea that I don't let my dog into my bed. I have no problem with people who sleep in a dog bed, I mean allow their dog to sleep in bed with them, and I am not criticizing them for doing it, so why must they criticize me? I am open-minded enough to know that people are different and there is more than one right way to raise a dog. Anyway....my point is that groups like PETA seriously make me crazy. First, let me say that I am a meatatarian. I think animals should be killed humainly, but by all means, let's serve a nice, juicy steak up for dinner! I have family members that are vegan and vegetarian for animal rights reasons and that is great, they never push their ideas on me. They quietly do what they think is right and people notice without being offended. When we visit together, I have fun finding recipes that are vegan friendly to try out. I am sure that many people have rethought their stance on animal issues just by observing the unobtrusive ways my vegetarian/vegan family members live their lives. But then there are those that are members of PETA. I equate them with the anti-abortionists who murder abortion doctors. (I am a HUGE believer that abortion is murder, but that is for another blog entry!) Why do I enjoy eating vegan style when I am around my bro and sis-in-law but I find myself ordering lamb with a side of extra suffering when I am around my PETA-card-toting friends? I literally could go on and on, but I would probably end up offending everyone I know if I do. My point is (yes, I do actually have one), being conservative is incredibly unpopular in this day and age but contrary to popular belief...I think most conservatives are way more open-minded than your average person would believe. Most conservatives feel incredibly strong about their beliefs and they live them out fiercely, but it is these crazy activists that are so close-minded that they can't comprehend that their way of doing things might not be the only way, let alone the best way. Conservatives are tired of people trying to tell them how they should live their lives.

**Thanks for reading my rant and rave, as an attempt to un-offend those that I have offended, let me comically add that I am a member of "American Family Association" and "Fight the Freedom of Choice Act", both family activist groups. :)