I have a friend who often suggests that I’m Vulcan.  He tells me that I approach everything with more logic than he has ever seen (and he sometimes appears annoyed by it.)

My husband has been known to say, “I can’t continue this conversation with you if you’re going to insist on being logical.”

And I have many friends all across the political spectrum who are surprised that although I am on the left in social issues that I am logical for my reasoning about WHY I’m left.  My emotions have almost no place at all in politics.  It’s not about what I feel… it’s about what’s logical…

So many highly emotional subjects are being discussed… and let me start with the biggest.  Late term abortion.  Feeling emotional? So, I’ve got my friends on the right that say, “I don’t care what you try to say!   That’s murder!”  And I have my friends on the left saying “Her body.   Her choice.  Unless it’s your uterus and your vagina, you can’t say a word!”  It’s all emotion… no logic.  How do we ever reach any kind of understanding with all of that?

So… to my friends on the right:  It’s horrible isn’t it?  How very sad to think of a baby being put to death.  It’s absolutely awful.  But let’s be logical about this.  What woman is going to carry a baby for nine months, allow her entire body to change forever, let people see her and know that she’s pregnant… then, at the last minute decide to terminate?  The logical answer:  almost none.  Women who are in this position at 7,8,9 months have to make the most heart-rending choices of their lives.  “Is it better for me to give birth to a baby who will only exist for painful moments before dying than it is to euthanize my child?”  “Is it better for me to go through labor which will most certainly kill me and leave my child without a parent than it is to take my child’s life before it is born?”  Could there be a few that do it for selfish reasons?  I’m sure… but “perfect” is not realistic.  A perfect solution doesn’t exist…

To my friends on the left:  We have to stop saying things like “my body, my decision.”  That will never resonate with the right.  They see two bodies (or three, when you include the father) and you can’t pretend that they don’t have a point.  When you call it a “women’s reproductive rights” issue it makes it appear as if you don’t understand that you’re talking about potential life.  You, of course, understand that there are literally INFINITE reasons a woman may have to make the decision to end a pregnancy.  You understand that you can’t make that choice for every woman.  But by being vulgar and saying things like “until you have a vagina, you can’t talk” you do nothing but perpetuate the hostility and anger towards women making the most difficult decision of their lives. You don’t allow for the open dialogue and communication where you can explain that for the vast majority abortion is not a decision that is made flippantly.

Clearly abortion is one of the most emotional topics we could discuss… but the same can be said for health care, immigration, taxes, harassment, racism…  We all want to use what we “feel” to support our arguments, but if we are ever to have any kind of solutions we have to stop caring so much about what WE feel and be more understanding of what others feel.

We need to be logical and understand that they have reasons behind their beliefs, too…  and we need to listen instead of picking up our pitchforks and screaming back and forth.

We don’t have to become what our parties want us to, or what social media is making of us.  We can rise above and be reasonable and understand that the loud-mouthed outliers don’t represent the whole.