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One Sudden Day

I am not going to tell you the details
because it necessarily involves another person 
who has the right to her own privacy,
but my attitude toward abortion 
changed in one day.  

 It was only the fact
that abortion was illegal
that was in question.  
And perhaps you should know
that no abortion resulted:
perhaps a missed period; 
perhaps a natural miscarriage.

 In any event, 
during the course of one day,
talking together,
talking to an honest doctor,
I recognized that 
sometimes,
reluctantly,
and with almost infinite sadness,
an abortion might be necessary
and wise.

 And this week, 
just as suddenly
and just as necessarily,
I know that we have to do
something
about guns.  

 It is insane to allow 
unregulated access
to murderous machines.
It might be murderous
not to regulate guns.  

 We license and regulate cars, 
keeping track of who owns them,
and specifying who cannot drive them
for various reasons:  age, eyesight,
abuse of alcohol, driving record, etc.

 We surely can 
and must
regulate machines designed 
to kill.  

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