Hopefully this will clear up some of the confusion . . .

I was chatting with my goddaughter the other day, and we were discussing movies that are out now and which one, if any, I should see. She suggested Pan. I told her that I don't particularly care for Peter Pan.

She was aghast, and horrified, and thought I couldn't love her anymore because she adores Peter Pan. I told her that, first of all, I don't hate  Peter Pan, it's just not something I care for. Also, she is free to continue loving it all she wants, and I'd even watch the movie with her if she wants. I also explained that I don't expect her to like the same things that I like, and she's free to watch or read or listen to whatever she wants, as long as she enjoys it.

She accepted this and was overjoyed that we might get to see Pan together.

My goddaughter is 11 years old, and even she could grasp a concept that seems to elude an awful lot of people these days.

Choice:

 the act of choosing : the act of picking or deciding between two or more possibilities: the opportunity or power to choose between two or more possibilities : the opportunity or power to make a decision: a range of things that can be chosen

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/choice

See, I've been seeing all these memes on Facebook posted by people who oppose abortion about how it's the first step in eliminating people who may oppose those in power. It's just another tool for keeping people down. This from mostly people on the far right.

Of course, for something like this to work, abortion would have to be mandatory. There would be police officers rounding pregnant women up to force them into clinics to have abortions. While I've seen that happen in other places in the world, I just don't see it happening here anytime soon.

See, what gets their dander up is choice. They don't seem to understand that just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you must do something. If something is legal they seem to think it's mandatory.

This is one of the tools in the lunatic fringe's toolbox. They did the same thing with marriage equality--skipping right over the fact that all it does is give gays the right to marry each other, and making it seem like it's required now, for everybody, or will be in the future.

The folks who buy into this seem to have problems grasping that concept. It's not just politically, either--if you don't like the movies they like, or the food, or whatever, they think there's something wrong with you, not that you just don't care for it.

So, here's my deal. You can marry who you want, you can go to whichever church you want, you can believe politically whatever you want, you can read whatever books or see whatever movies you want. The fact that I may disagree with you is not a slap in your face, and the fact that you may make decisions that I wouldn't make is not offensive to me.

But when you decide that you know what's best for me, and use lies and misinformation to try to limit the choices I can make simply because you don't like them, it's a step too far, and then I will get offended, and I will say something.

So, please, understand what the word choice means. Use it in a sentence. Try to apply it in your daily life.

If you still don't get it I know an 11 year old who could probably explain it to you.