Prostitutes on Northwest Highway

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Twice now on Northwest Highway I’ve been approached by prostitutes. Each time it has caught me off guard, even though their methods have been similar. Here’s how it went this morning:

  1. I’m filling up my car. It’s light outside and seems fairly safe.
  2. A car pulls up next to me carrying 2-3 young women, maybe in their late teens or early twenties, dressed nicely. I immediately put my guard up any time someone approaches me in such a situation. Generally it’s a guy looking for money, sometimes with a fabricated story. Not today.
  3. One girl smiles and says, “I like your cute little car.”
  4. OK, this is weird. “Thanks,” I say.
  5. Girl 1: “Where are you going?”
  6. Me: “Home”.
  7. Girl 1: “Where you coming from?”
  8. Me: “Sorry, ladies, I’m not interested.”
  9. Girl 2: [Coy smile] “How do you know we’re not selling cologne or something?”
  10. Me: [Don’t BS me look]
  11. The girls drive off. Seemingly cars work better than walking the street. A fast getaway is easier if the cops show up.

My wife will be glad to know that I don’t normally talk to prostitutes. My lack of contact with them might be the main reason I got so defensive. I guess I didn’t know how else to react. In retrospect I wish I’d had some information on New Friends New Life to give them. All I knew about them was 1) they were young, female prostitutes, and 2) God loved them anyway, just like He loved me despite my own sins. I wish I had been kinder to them. I’m sure their lives are difficult, filled with plenty of unkind words. I wonder if they want out. Maybe they do, maybe not.

Despite my awkwardness and sympathy for them, I also wonder why prostitution is illegal. Hang on, hear me out for a second. Is sex for money wrong? Most people would say yes, as would the Bible. But how is it any different from any other sex outside marriage? Does adding money to the relationship make it any worse from a moral standpoint? How is sex for money any worse than pornography or strip clubs, both of which are legal? In terms of impact on society, I would suspect porn, alcohol, and tobacco cause significantly more harm than prostitution, yet all three are legal while prostitution (except in a few Nevada counties) is not.

To me, our law on individual behavior, including sexual conduct, seem very inconsistent. The law attempts to legislate morality in some circumstances (prohibiting murder, rape, kidnapping, insider trading, drug use, drunk driving, etc.) but allows us to make our own potentially harmful decisions in others (smoking, extramarital sex, gambling, gluttony, sloth, etc.). The government tries to protect us from each other and ourselves but also gives us enough rope to hang ourselves. I don’t understand. Maybe I’m trying to make things too black and white. What do you think?

Regarding sex and prostitution, we could make the law more consistent with either of two options:

  • All consensual sex is legal (libertarian view), or
  • All consensual sex outside marriage is illegal (conservative view).

Put another way, either we’re free to do what we want sexually, or we’re legally prohibited from doing anything harmful sexually. I think choice #1 would have some negative consequences (higher STD rates, for starters) but would be more politically acceptable. Choice #2 would be much better for society overall but also extremely difficult to enforce.

Thoughts?

Observations from a Momma – the birthday edition!

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Wow – I can’t believe a year ago this Thursday Brenden was born! It seems like just yesterday he looked like this:

Day 1

Day 1

And now, check him out!

In honor of his birthday, here’s twelve new observations from the past few weeks.

1. He’s walking around like a pro – almost running. It’s so funny to watch him “toddle” around.
2. The fun new game is to climb on everything – the couch, the toybox, the chairs, etc. You’ve got to watch him carefully, because getting down seems to done by going face first off of whatever he’s on top of.
3. This week he’s started “talking” – jabbering at me about anything and everything. There’s not many real words in it, so who knows what I’m agreeing to. Every once in a while I’ll understand what he’s trying to say, but for the most part, I just nod and say “uh huh” a lot.
4. He and Holly have reached a new level of friendship. He’s figured out that she likes goldfish crackers and she figured out he’s the source of the stuff dropping from the sky, so Holly now follows him around licking his hands.
5. He’s got a pretty good throwing arm. Lots of balls go flying around my living room.
6. I think that if you hand any little boy of any age a stick like thing, they will immediately try to whack something with it. Instinct, I guess.
7. He’s starting to throw fits when he doesn’t get his way. Big pouting lip, big tears, lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth. So far I’ve avoided one in public, but I think that’s coming.
8. We had our first actual health scare. Andy was spending the day with B, so he made them both breakfast: scrambled eggs and biscuits. After Brenden ate, we noticed he was sneezing like crazy and his eyes were all bloodshot. After a does of benedryl and a nap, it cleared up. We’re thinking he has an egg allergy, and we’ll have him checked out at his appt on the 3rd. Until then, we’re avoiding all egg foods and watching him closely. Anyone have any experience with an egg allergy?
9. We’re trying to wean him from the bottle, but so far we’re not having much luck. He’s not one of those kiddos who is attached to the bottle as a comfort item, but he’s not really interested in switching to sippy cups at all. We made the mistake of letting him drink water from sippy cups all this time, so he thinks that’s the only thing that should go in them. We haven’t been consistent at all about using the cups, so starting tomorrow, the lunch milk is only going in a cup. End of story. We’ll get the hang of it eventually!
10. He’s starting to develop a sense of humor. He’ll hide under something and sit there until you say “where’s Brenden?” and then he’ll jump out giggling.
11. We’ve started going to parks and splash parks to play – he loves the water. He’ll run through the sprinklers and get soaking wet and just laugh at all of it. And slides and swings at regular parks are his favorite.
12. Books are still a treat – his favorite one right now is “follow the fire truck”, but I think it’s because it’s a pop up book. He loves those. Grammy has one called “Get off my tail little whale” and all you have to do is say that phrase and he’s looking for the book. We’ve gone to the library a few times and he was in heaven.

So happy birthday to you, Brenden! You’ve brought so much joy and laughter to our lives and we can’t wait to see what the next year brings!

The Eagle Has Landed

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Monday was the 40th anniversary of the July 1969 moon landing, one of the defining moments of the 20th century. I’ve always had some interest in space, partly because it’s so big that it boggles my mind. To think that I could travel at the speed of light for an entire lifetime in the same direction and not even pass through a tiny fraction of the universe…how can you not stand in awe, both of the universe and of the God who created it?

Anyway, after the landing, some people examined the photographs and other evidence from the trip and decided that NASA had faked the moon landing for political reasons because the actual trip was impossible. They offered some interesting arguments: shadows that didn’t line up, an astronaut in shadows that somehow was still visible, a flag that seemed to blow in the breeze. I wasn’t completely convinced either way, but I must admit, they got me thinking. A friend of mine at work is a staunch believer in the conspiracy theory and even has a website dedicated to the cause.

In honor of the anniversary, The Discovery Channel’s excellent show Mythbusters decided to test the conspiracy theorists’ arguments. Guess what? They debunked most of the major arguments, including:

  • How could a flag move in a vacuum as if blown by the wind?
  • How could the sun cast shadows that appear to be unparallel?
  • How could such a perfect footprint be made in moondust with no air or water vapor to help it keep its shape?
  • Why couldn’t the hoaxsters have faked the moon walks by playing a normal walk in slow motion?

I try to base my judgments on evidence when available. For me, the Mythbusters busted every one of these conspiracy theorists’ arguments. Coupled with the simple truth that the difficulty of pulling off such a hoax involving SO many people on such a monumental event would be pretty much prohibitive, this show convinced me of what most of us want to believe: yes, Virginia, man really did walk on the moon.

Brenden in a Box

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Some of you know about an unfortunate childhood incident involving me and a box. For those who don’t, here’s the short version. I had a set of stacking plastic boxes when I was around two years old. The biggest one was red. They all curved in at the top, probably for aesthetic reasons. One day I decided to sit down in the big red box. When potty time came, I found myself unable to escape from said box due to the inward curve and sharp edges at the top. Some of you might find that mental picture amusing, but I assure you that it was not amusing in any way, either for me or for my mother. After extensive efforts by both of us, Mom was ready to pick me up, box and all, and take me down the street to the fire station for assistance. Fortunately, Dad came home just in time to avert any, um, accidents by sawing the box open. This might be my earliest memory. I remember Dad used a hacksaw. Once I was free, they decided the boxes would be better off outside our home. Here’s a picture of my misfortune:

The other day I put Brenden in a similar position only without the drama. His playroom has a big plastic tub that sometimes holds his toys. His new game is to play with the box itself, so I decided to amuse myself and you by posing him for some “box” pictures.

Various News

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I’ve been so busy working on the new design (see poll at right!) that I haven’t written much about what’s been going on. Whether I’m blogging often or not, you can keep up with us via the Status listings on the left. Here’s the latest:

  • Jenny has been seeing a chiropractor recommended by her OB/GYN. Due both to pregnancy and misalignment, her hips and back have been hurting for a while. She’s seeing Dr. Watkins and really likes him. Already she’s getting some relief. More should follow soon.
  • Friday night we attended the wedding of two friends of ours from the Southwest People Department – Luke and Rebecca from Jenny’s former team. They hung out a lot while Jenny was there and started officially shortly after Jenny retired. They are a very cute couple and seemed thrilled at the wedding, which was a SWA People Dept. reunion of sorts that gave us a chance to see many of our old friends. They plan to honeymoon next week in Maine. Sounds nice this time of year, eh?
  • Saturday afternoon Jenny and I plan to visit a new (to us) waterpark called NRH2O. It’s a Hurricane Harbor-type park only smaller and, we hope, less crowded. Jenny’s parents are coming up to watch B. We’re excited to see what NRH2O has to offer.
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