In her April 16 Maine Voices op-ed, Maye Emelin, education program manager at Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine, offered several suggestions on “how we can all create safer communities by preventing violence in the first place.” She suggests that “we do this by becoming active bystanders.”
Who better exemplifies the role of “active bystander” than a citizen protester who stands outside the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Portland in all weathers, exhorting the prevention of violence in the first place to any “unborn person” – a term recently used by Hillary Clinton – within that building? Of course, the “first place” for all of us was in the surroundings and safety of our mother’s womb.
To quote Ms. Emelin, “The next time you see something that doesn’t feel right or look right, step forward and be an active bystander. You would want the same to be done for you or your loved ones.”
Now that seems to be something we can all agree on.
Walter J. Eno
Scarborough
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