Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: UNBORN (07/27/23)
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TITLE: My Night at the Round Table | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
08/03/23 -
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Wow! I got an unexpected education for sure.
The most outspoken, Lottie Rose, was not shy about sharing. Before I could finish the first question, she was off and running with the answer.
“Tell me, Miss Lottie, are you pro-choice or…?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she hollered as she slammed her fist down and rattled her teacup, “but not the way today’s culture thinks.”
Most of the others who sat at the big round table sipping this and that shook their heads in agreement. I sensed the subject had been discussed before within this vibrant group.
“You know, we weren’t always old,” she continued at breakneck speed. “The truth is that human nature never changes. We swooned over guys and dated and married and were faced with what women have confronted about their bodies for thousands of years.
When she paused to take a swig of whatever was in her cup, sweet Jenny, dressed in soft pink, spoke in a quiet voice.
“You rarely heard about any girl who became pregnant out of wedlock. Magazines were not plastered with every conceivable kind of bad advice about one’s reproductive parts.”
Miss Lottie, now sufficiently re-hydrated, jumped in again.
“Boy-Howdy, that’s the truth! What we learned in biology and what our friends and sisters shared was all the information we had.”
Carolina, a physician in her day, spoke with an unusually precise and measured eloquence.
“The best thing that kept most of us chaste and out of trouble was a result of our moral upbringing. We were admonished that good girls behaved themselves, and bad girls did not.”
Jenny chimed in, “And young men seemed to show a certain respect for us you don’t see nowadays. Back then, guys could count on you to distract them when hormones raged and they got too frisky. Also, brothers and fathers would have intervened with some strongarm advice!”
Trying not to giggle, I edged my way back into the conversation. “So, Miss Lottie, what did you mean about the choice thing?”
She was locked and loaded and even stood up to have her say.
“Honey, no one is teaching the bottom line about pregnancy. The real CHOICE begins way before the heartbreak of to have or have not. We thought when the birth control pill was invented, unplanned conceptions would disappear. It’s all about the R-word: responsibility!”
Doctor Carolina raised her hand for permission to make another point.
“Did you know that women are only fertile for about twenty-four hours in a month? How is it that sex education has so blatantly forgotten to teach these fundamentals?”
Miss Lottie had more to say. “Married or not, CHOOSING to be smart enough to plan around that time reduces the odds of getting with child.”
My resident former medical lady had one more fairly humorous observation.
“If we’re being transparent here, I have to add that the biological product the man contributes can be a little sneaky and waiting in ambush. His half of the, uh, project can live up to five days on its adventure to claim an egg and create a human.”
We all smiled at her attempt to mix medical facts with a charming genteel flavor surrounding her expert knowledge on the subject.
Finally, a lady who had been listening while knitting had something profound to say to me.
“Dear, please tell your readers they won’t have to suffer the pangs of indecision when a baby is on the way if they are smart enough to make the right choices before conception.”
The group nodded in one accord as the elderly English teacher continued.
“In most cases, every woman with a sad story needs to go back and remember there was a prologue to their predicament, a time when good sense options usually would have prevented a child’s beginning in the womb.”
I had to interject, “But what if she was careless, or attacked, or had no means of caring for a baby?”
The soft-spoken knitting lady smiled as she held up a tiny pair of booties she had just finished.
“Then, we do the best we can to support her and rejoice in the blessing of a new life.”
I had a lot to think about after leaving this round table discussion with women of experience and insight. I knew I would be back for more.
_____
Proverbs 2:12 (NLT)
Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.
Proverbs 4:7 (NLT)
Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.
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God BLess~
A phenomenal piece of writing, congratulations!
God Bless~