SWA #2

Katherine Parker's "Seeking Balance in an Either/Or World" is a fascinating essay about the importance of finding the middle ground in life.  We live in a world that is ultimately dominated by extremists who battle one another from their opposite ends of each spectrum. Where is the middle pathway, and why do Americans have such a hard time accepting those who want to travel down it?  

I think that Parker did a wonderful job composing this piece, and her writing style instantly captured my attention.  Not only did she bring to light many important issues that I agreed with, but more importantly, she did it in a catchy and appealing way.  Not only on the topic of abortion, but also on an array of political, social, moral, and ethical topics, I find myself being one of the "fence-straddlers" whom Parker mentions.  I am often comforted by settling on the notion of centrism, because I believe that it does in fact promote "reason, decency, and a practical perspective."  

I support Parkers words, and I feel that all of my life I have been surrounded by these exact issues.  I attended Catholic school from Kindergarten through 12th grade, so the notion of abortion was often raised, and I always took the middle road although most around me did not.  The priests taught us that abortion can never, under any circumstances, be justified.  However, if a girl at our school announced that she was pregnant and was choosing to keep her child, she was deeply frowned upon and ostracized by those very same priests who claimed to be "pro-life."  

From personal experience, I find that it is wise to always see both sides of an argument and be willing to consider all aspects of a situation.  As Parker stated, "inflexibility leads to deadlock or dooms a cause to irrelevance;" so, why is it such a bad thing for people to make compromises and seek out the middle ground?