I hit the stores early this morning. And as I left the Supercenter, coasting about 5mph on the industrial size shopping cart into the parking lot and gaining speed, I notice briefly the red and black checkered shirt of the "Pro-Life Man" sitting at his four foot table on the sidewalk right outside the automatic doors. I have seen him there a couple of times, in his late sixties, wearing a black ball cap and holding a clipboard. Silently he sits solicits signatures from people popping into the store to grab some toothpaste or a turkey for his Pro-Life petition.
I admit, at first I am little perturbed. Seeing him there again has forced me to contemplate things that and I could have gone the entire day without considering. I had just put on my rose colored sunglasses for goodness sake, the sun was out and I was on my way home to enjoy my second cup of coffee and maybe throw in a load of laundry...thinking about the rights of women and of unborn children was not on my agenda this morning. How dare he scratch my lenses.
But as I unloaded my things into the trunk of my minivan, I began to think less about whether or not I agreed with his homemade poster board and it's contents. But more about this man and his passion to his cause. I mean that is what it has to be...passion, right? Because only passion would raise someone out of bed and move them to lay claim on the sidewalk of one of America's largest retailers armed with just a table, a chair, a petition, a pencil and the hope to change just one person's mind.
So rather than complain about the "man of awareness" and the fact that he inconvenienced me this morning with his silent advocacy, I began to wonder...what am I passionate about? I mean, if I had a four foot table and five feet of space outside of the Supercenter, what would my homemade poster board say?
What would yours say?
