My title, a famous movie epic of the 1950s. It’s Latin for “Where are you going?” In legend, it was Peter’s question to a vision of Jesus. Ultimately, it was Peter’s call to his own martyrdom. In today’s increasingly chaotic national and international situations, we can wonder, “Where are we going?’
Yet another virus is coming out of Red China, this time affecting children. Sleeping has become a challenge to life, as many folks now need respiratory masks to make it through the night – snoring has taken an ugly turn! Commuting to a job is now considered a crime against humanity, as Covid lockdowns showed office workers how to catch up on sleep and save money on transportation, clothing, and meals. But everything has consequences.
Fewer commuters mean greater transit deficits. Fewer office workers mean a commercial real estate slump. Shopping too has taken a hit, as lost customers are being replaced by minority mobs collecting consumer “reparations.” Depending on where you get your news, all these things are temporary or the end of civilization.
On the world stage, the news is a horror show of televised butchery in Ukraine and the Middle East. Depending on your news source, the southern border is secure or in chaos. One clue is that major “sanctuary cities” are spending billions of tax dollars to care for unwanted illegals (aka “asylum seekers”) – however the mainstream media doesn’t dwell on such trivia. According to the conservative Center for Migration Studies, the foreign-born population of the USA – legal and illegal – stands at 50 million souls or 15% of the total population, the highest in our history. And, not one of them need worry about being drafted, like you or your parents and grandparents used to be.
Life may still be good for most of us, but we will soon be at a crossroads politically which will have a profound effect on whether Western traditions will survive or a whole new set of values will engulf us – some from utopia dreamers, some from anti-Western reactionaries.
In watching the recent DeSantis-Newsom debate on FOXNews, viewers had an opportunity to see what the coming U.S. Presidential campaign will sound like, even though these men may not be on the ballot. Gov. Ron DeSantis was by far the superior state executive. The vital statistics that were displayed during the debate, comparing Florida and California, left little for Gov. Gavin Newsom to brag about. Instead, he generalized on DeSantis “banning books,” “oppressing gays,” and being “a bully.” However, the one charge that he made may be the Republican Party’s Achille’s Heel – abortion. DeSantis signed into law a ban on abortions after 6 weeks, barely enough time for a woman to know she is even pregnant.
It is not so much the timing of an abortion as the idea that abortion can swing a national election and outweigh the huge problems that face the nation. It would be like the Civil War being fought over the price of cotton rather than slavery. Abortion is not everyone’s issue. It is still available somewhere at almost any time. Yet, it has become an obsession and marketed as a standard form of birth control. Morality aside, abortion alone should not determine the fate of a nation and who will lead us.
Even the Romans put the issue in perspective. I found this quote from the satiric Roman poet Juvenal who saw a practical side to abortion, advising a husband, “rejoice, give [your wife] the potion…for were she to bear you the child you might find yourself the father of an Ethiopian.”
Wherever we are going, let’s hope that the next election is not only about abortion. -JLM
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