I’ve always thought that adoptive parent groups protesting the use of “adopt-a-highway/whale/endangered gorilla/etc.” campaigns were overreacting. People can realize that a word is used differently in different settings, surely. But I’ve changed my mind. Think it through with me for a minute: we try so hard to reassure our adopted children that adoption is permanent and forever. Then we tell them we are adopting an animal, say a gorilla, at the local zoo. We send the zoo some money and go visit “our” animal, then go home. Perhaps we visit once or twice more that year. The next year our … Continue reading →