Would You Rather Have Natural Child Birth Or An Episiotomy

In scanning the Davenport, Iowa Quad-Cities Times this morning one particular article caught my eye. At my age I can relate, sort of, to college students and their beliefs. Growing up is difficult for all of us as illustrated by one college students action.

"As Augustana College sophomore Kamille Brashear slowly got up from the floor, she cupped her face in her hands and uttered a soft sigh of relief.
“I can’t breathe,” she let out numerous times as she wiped tears from her face.
Brashear had to rush to her next class, but for seven minutes, the Oak Park, Ill., native joined about 60 students, faculty and staff members in a staged silent “die-in” demonstration Thursday on the Rock Island campus". http://qctimes.com/news/local/education/augustana-stages-die-in-protest-on-campus/article_471cac5a-2733-59ae-8c04-ce7d010edb73.html

Here we go, another protest, another die-in on a college campus which will succeed in what? Remember the song, "War, what is it good for? And the answer was, "Absolutely nuthin"!

I know Augustana College. It lies below the hill from Rock Island Alleman High School in Illinois. Furthermore, the college is flanked by the railroad tracks of the Rock Island Railroad line and is a mile or so from the banks of the Mississippi River.

Poor, poor Kamille Brashear. The 19 year old child is performing an act of futility before she rushes off to grab her daily Starbucks. I hope she feels better because her 'seven minute die-in' will not bring about meaningful change in laws or sympathy for perceived persecutions against Blacks in America.

It's Friday. Augustana has a very good basketball team this year. This week they defeated the Univ. of Wisconsin-Whitewater ranked number one in the country in Division III. We should take a poll next week to see who remembers these events: Augustana basketball or Kamille Brashear's 'die in'.

I'm going to dig back into my memory file and repeat thoughts from a blog piece from my college years at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My post high school years took place between 1964-68. If you are clueless about that period take a few minutes and google the times. Take a quick overview of what was occurring as far as wars, domestic violence, college campuses, etc. Trust me when I write, "I can't breathe" has the significance of a pimple on a gnats butt compared to the mayhem of the 1960's.

What I didn't understand at the time was how kids in their late teens and early twenties, wearing green pea coats and sandals, knew so much about what was going on in America and the world. I couldn't comprehend how supposed learned adults would want to pay attention to what they thought. I'd never bought a loaf of bread in my life so what did I know. My existence depended on the ability of my parents to pay my tuition money. Oh, I got odd jobs but those were mostly done to buy beer money. So, at the time, why did I, a kid from Central Iowa, feel I had the right to protest the problems in the world when I didn't know how to separate whites from colors at the local laundromat.

Poor Kamille. She's eight years into wearing a bra and now she's an expert on what's right and wrong in the country. "Kamille, I applaud you for exerting your right to protest". I wonder if, twenty years from now, when you're married with children getting ready to go off to their own college, will your
protest make you cringe. Will you think to yourself, "In the big scheme of life was I a clueless know nothing child manipulated by do-gooder socialist college professors"?

This is a life experience for Kamille as it is for her partners in protesting and that's good. But, putting experiences in perspective, my guess is down the road the 'breathing' sensation will pale in comparison when it comes to the decision of should she have a natural birth or an episiotomy.