I took the boys to the water park today.  It’s in the 90’s here and there are only two places fit for mankind:  inside sitting in the air conditioning or somewhere with lots of cool clear water.

We arrived around noon.  It was our first time at this particular water park, my ten year old read the rules out loud to his brother and me.  They were the typical no running, pushing, be safe kind of common sense rules.

I blew up my three year old’s inner tube and we hit the water.  It is a small one, the kind made for toddlers.  He is three and can’t swim.  Inner tube or not I never take my hands off him when we are in the water.  But the inner tube gives him something to hang onto beside the top of my bathing suit and is basically just another water toy.

It was wonderful.

An hour later one of the life guards approached and told me we can’t use the blow up tube.  I asked her why.  She explained it was not approved by the National Water Safety blah blah blah.   I explained he wasn’t using it as a flotation device…it was essentially a toy.  He hung on and I dragged him around in the two foot pool.

Nope.  She wasn’t having any of it.

I told her I read the rules when entering and there was not a single one on the use or non use of flotation devices.

She looked uncertain and I felt bad.  She was all of seventeen and only doing what her boss told her too.  Besides we were only playing with it so really there was no point going to war.  We could easily play with the blow up ball we brought.  So that’s what we did.  And everything was hunky dory.

A little while later the kiddie pool was getting really crowded.  And in some areas I was  shoulder to shoulder with other moms helping their toddlers play in the water.  It was fun though.  Participating in water play with children is always a thrill for me.

I love the sounds of children playing in water.  Splashing and laughing and hollering.

I heard a plane off in the distance.  I looked up and saw a Cessna pulling a huge banner behind it.  I couldn’t make out the words but the picture beside it showed a bloody mass of tissue with a dime beside it.

I’ve seen the photo before and  knew immediately the bloody mass was an aborted baby.

I am pro-life, but get aggravated when I see pro-life billboards and commercials showing aborted babies.  They just put it out there and don’t really care who sees it.  It’s one thing for me to tell my child about abortion but another for someone else to decide when they look at it.

These thoughts were running around in my mind when the Cessna came closer a few minutes later.  The water park is fairly new and out in farm country.  There aren’t any other businesses around yet.  The Cessna flew over and around us at least seven times.

It was flying low enough that everyone stopped to look up the first time it flew by.

I was thinking some unpleasant things about pro-life extremists when I finally read the words printed in big black letters next to the bloody tissue and dime.

“10 week abortion.  Call 1-888-whatever.”

Pfft.  Same offense, different group.

It seems ironic to me cigarettes can’t be advertised on tv but someone can rent a plane, put a huge banner with an aborted baby on it, and fly around a place children of all ages gather.  No matter what side of the argument you fall on, it is at the very least in bad taste.

My ten year old just happened to be checking in at that time.  And there were some other kids in the toddler pool too, perhaps seven or eight years old.

I heard several, “what’s an abortion?”

My oldest asked me, “Isn’t abortion killing a baby?”

(Heh.  You may not agree, but my kids my rules.)

I said, “Yeah.”

He looked confused.

I said, “We’ll talk about it later.  Let’s just enjoy the rest of the day.”

I can’t imagine showing a young child a picture of an aborted baby.  Can you imagine the outrage if all first grade students were required to look at pictures of aborted babies?

Yet an advertiser can show them to anyone, any age without any problems.

It’s a sorry state of affairs imho.