Part of the folly of watching children's entertainment on long car trips...scratch that.

Part of the folly of LISTENING to children's entertainment on long car trips is that you pick up on the details of the dialog. These two lines stick with me for different reasons, and they both seem true and valid (though one is more valid that the other).

What does an actor want with a conscience anyway?
Pinocchio had been tricked by Honest John to join Stromboli's traveling puppet show, much to Jiminy Cricket's dismay. Pinocchio hits it big, or so it seems; he is a string-less puppet, after all. Jiminy Cricket laments his use as Pinocchio's conscience and utters this line.

How is this valid? Well, have you seen the state of today's stars...of today's entertainment role models? It seems they have no conscience. Sure, there are exceptions, but the rule seems to be that they don't have a conscience (or ignore it if they do). "What does an actor want with a conscience anyway?"

A person's a person, no matter how small.
This famous line comes from Horton Hears a Who. In the story, the kangaroo lambastes Horton for carrying on about the speck he is carrying around on a clover. "If you can't see it, hear it, or feel it, it doesn't exist," she exclaims (in the most recent movie, anyway). Horton responds with this most profound line.

This one goes straight to abortion and life. Those on the side of abortion would like to tell you that since you can't see it, hear it, or feel it, it isn't a person. Okay, that's a stretch...certainly a simplification. Well, Horton's response to the kangaroo is still fitting, no matter how simple that previous statement may be. "A person's a person, no matter how small." Be that person a single cell waiting to implant in it's mother's uterine wall or the multi-celled organism existing outside of a mother's womb, it is still a person!