Different Paths, Same Destination

I'm reading Jimmy Carter's new book Endangered Values. It's a great read and I highly recommend it.

One of the things that made me think of this entry is that as Mr. Carter goes on to explain the reasons he believes and feels as he does on the various issues he tackles, I often find myself saying "NO! NO! That's so WRONG!" but as I continue to read and reach his conclusion, he is often at the same place I am.

I think this is an important point to reach. We don't all think or believe the same things. We don't act for the same reasons. However, we often come to the same conclusions about how we want to live our life and what we want from life.

Many people disagree with policians over a single issue. I'd probably have had a hard time with Mr. Carter because he's against abortion. However, his solutions are not to keep women from having them (as he sees that as a right upheld by Roe v. Wade) but to find out why women were choosing to have them and to create the things that would prevent this decision from occuring. He wants more reproductive education, more help for would be moms and healthcare for both the woman and her baby. Why? Because his research shows that most women choose abortion because they feel they don't have the resources to have a child. I'm all over that. I still think the woman ultimately has a right to choose but we might have fewer women with a need to make that choice, right?

I'm excited about his book because it reminds me to think beyond the simple. It reminds me to continue to look beyond the obvious solution.