There’s nothing like waking up early in the morning, driving to school and glancing over to the side of the road with your tired eyes, only to see a 6 feet tall sign with a graphic image of an aborted fetus. Shaken by what you have just seen, you think to yourself: “at least its over, probably a lone wolf, just one crazy guy pushing his message to the world.” But as you search for a place to park your vehicle, you can’t help but notice that the sidewalks are littered with striking images, shocking slogans and persistent demonstrators hounding students with booklets and opinions.

The demonstrators who recently visited Naperville Central represent the group Abolish Human Abortion (AHA) and their main goal, according to their official website, is to “agitate the public, create an urgency for moral discussion, and recruit people to their cause.”

Interestingly a wide majority of these demonstrators were middle-aged men. Who doesn’t love being told what to do and how to feel by someone who never has, and never will, be in a position anywhere close to yours, right? And let’s not forget about the children, as young as eight years old,  who  were unfortunately dragged into this mess and brainwashed enough to pass out booklets full of all kinds of offensive topics and arguments.

Without having to do much research it was made clear that they are extremely anti-gay as well as aggressively pro-life. When asked why, one of their members quoted Leviticus from the old testament and used that as an explanation. I asked if he  followed everything in Leviticus. Confidently, he agreed with my statement, but when i mentioned how Leviticus forbids haircuts and has strict dietary restrictions, such as not eating shellfish, he grew quiet. “So you don’t follow everything? You just pick and choose which of God’s rules you wish to follow?” Once again, I got no answer. It’s interesting how confident the ignorant can be.

As we now know, these individuals didn’t stop at just NCHS. They also appeared Saturday at the Naperville riverwalk, harassing families and their children. Then on Sunday, they went to Grace United Methodist Church and confronted church goers, yelling and screaming at them about abortion, religion, and other views they had. Clearly, even other christian believers are not immune to their wrath.

The main problem is that these individuals  don’t want a moral discussion- in fact, they don’t want any discussion at all. That’s why they come unannounced with such graphic and disturbing images hoping to drown out any opposing arguments. If they really welcomed discussion, they would schedule a time and place so that opposing sides could share their views in a respectful and tasteful way. They would also try to be reasonable and hold polite conversations rather than aggressively yelling “devil children” or “slave owner” at anyone who disagrees with them, including the track team, passing students and other adults.

Everyone has a right to share his or her opinion, but these cowards who show up at schools and public venues unannounced so no opposing views can confront them must not go unchallenged by the opinions of the majority. I challenge you to stand up for your cause. Spark conversation. Spark controversy. Ignite those flames of passion and strength and have pride in what you believe in.