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In this post I briefly mentioned a conversation I had with one American guy on my travels; a nice, smart and well-spoken guy who was taking a short holiday in Europe in-between military training activities. A friend reading the post picked up on the casual mention of this conversation and asked me the following question in the comments:

Hey Susi, why don’t (or didn’t) you believe in a human’s inherent right to life? Just curious.

When I started this reply I was going to put it as a comment following his, but then it got longer and longer and I realised that perhaps it should be a post of its own. I was reluctant to make it one because there are a ton of other “real” posts I have been intending on completing, and because this is a highly personal topic. I’m very opinionated but at the same time I don’t want it to seem as if I’m trying to convert others to my point of view. You can take it or leave it or turn it into a paper crane to hang up from your ceiling. To be honest it does bother me that I could hurt someone’s feelings by saying what I say, what I hope is that this is only short-lived and can be put into perspective. Of course if anyone finds what I have said off-base or cruel or stupid, you can tell me personally or in the comments.

Why did I make it a post if I was really so worried it would be offensive? Well mainly because I did want to leave it in the comments section as a public answer to his question, yet at the same time I was suspicious of my desire to leave it there in this old post that people who usually read my blog probably wouldn’t see again. It indicated to me that I cared enough about this question to want to deal with it openly, yet also felt like I needed to hide it by burying it somewhere where people who know me wouldn’t find it. Totally disingenuous. Read the rest of this entry »