Planned Parenthood and Survivors' Guilt

Today I was working out in the fitness center of yet another hotel in my University of Pennsylvania Penn for Life t-shirt.  It made me think about the last couple of generations of college students.  Roe v. Wade passed in  1973. The students in college now have never lived in a time without legal, government sanctioned infanticide, in the name of freedom, in the name of fulfillment, in the name of women's rights?

These students are  a generation whose parents have not been shy or reserved about mentioning the children that they choose not to have for whatever reason.  Because my generation and their parent's generations have been so open, these children have survivors' guilt.  They wake each day with a thought deeply buried in their consciousness, wondering why they were the siblings that their parents chose to let live.  They wonder what was wrong with the missing siblings, or what was right about them.

Since this is also a generation that was raised in a time where we are not to speak of Judeo-Christian values in school or society, they are left to attribute there survival to chance or happenstance. 

So is it any mystery that this is the generation that operates 714 college chapters of Students for Life? Consider having a pro-life organization on a college campus in the 1970s or 1980s? Not really.  That this is the generation that has, in its search for meaning, rediscovered the phrase "there, but for the grace of God go I." That this is the generation that is investigating organizations that prosper from procedures such as abortion, and asking moral questions, not cultural questions.

Their survivors' guilt may just be the attitude that will generate the actions that save their children from feeling the same shame and uncertainty.  I am grateful for their action and voice.

Sticks and Stones....

When I was growing up I was taught the phrase, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  We lost that bit of common sense somewhere along the way. We knew the difference between words and actions.  When we taught our children to take every word as a threat, we lost our minds as a culture.

My mother was not the most orthodox mother on the planet, but she raised resilient children. One day walking back from school, a group of black kids called me a half breed (one of the kids involved actually had a white mother and a black father, unlike me with two black parents).  A little further along a group of white kids called me the n-word.  When I walked into the house, Mom took one look at my face and knew that I was fit to be tied.

After telling my mother the story of my afternoon, Mom just laughed.  Mom explained that people only bother to do this to those they are intimidated or jealous.  Her approach was take the complement and move on.

My mother did not tell me that I was a victim of bullying. Or that I should know that I would be scarred for life.  Her ability to laugh at my bad day did something miraculous.  She made those who tried to injure me with their words small and harmless.  By contrast she made me strong and powerful.

Let's make our children strong again--Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me...unless I let them.

There are Things One Cannot Unsee

Today I watched the torture and desecration of the living body of a Jordanian pilot murdered by ISIS.  I can not unsee this barbarism.  I watched it on the website of Walid Shoebat, a former radical Muslim who found Christ.

To the mother of the pilot, my heart breaks for you.  My prayers cover you.

To those who say this is an unprecedented level of vileness--read your history.  On Shoebat's website he notes that the ISIS capturers asked followers to submit their suggestions on to kill the pilot.  The way chosen was not the most barbaric suggestion. Think about this...burning a man alive was not the most barbaric suggestion.  Women, mothers, made even viler suggestions.

To the rest of us I say--know you enemy.  This is a primitive, barbaric enemy who is not dazzled by our let's fight a kind war, can't we all just get along idiocy.  Our enemy is fueled by religious zeal and a need for us to submit or die.  Submit to Islam, or die.  Are you willing to denounce your religion for peace? 

Islam means submission from the word al-slim.

ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Yes, Mr. President, these are devout Muslims. They are practicing their religion as fundamentalist.

What part of religious war are you having problems understanding?

Qur'an 2:191-192 




Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.
And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.

Please tell me Coexist bumper sticker people, where is your coexistence in these statements.

I urge all to see the  video, in order to understand that this is an enemy with whom the is no diplomacy, no-coexistence.   Prepare...for this is the war of a lifetime, and our leaders are either blind or complicit. 

Let us not have another mother watch her child die like this.

Charlie Hebdo--more than terrorism

First, I my condolences to the families of the workers and contractors at Charlie Hebdo who were killed or scarred by the actions of the Muslim, Extremist Terrorists in Paris. Know you are in my prayers,though I suspect you will find that statement offensive if you relate to the work of your family members who were casualties of this vile attack.

This attack is not about free speech.  It is about more than terrorism.  It about who we are as a society.I suspect that few if any have actually Googled the images of what Charlie Hebdo considered funny and literary.

It was vile and offensive.  While I think that the terrorists are wrong in their methods, where were the rest of us when these vile images were being peddled.  Where are the parents in France?  Where are the Christians?  The non-violent Muslims we hear so much about?  The Jews? And all citizens of France, regardless of faith--how did you ever consume this horrible tripe?


This publication should not have survived financially to be offensive to anyone.  Who was buying this trash and how depraved were they? It speaks volumes about our society that our first statements after sincere sorrow for those who were killed and injured (espically the unarmed police officers who were expected to protect the French with...strong words?  A stern expression? A wagging finger?  All not very effective against any weapon--bat or knife or gun) were about freedom of speech.

Maybe we should substitute a statement about how vile and offensive the publication was.  About how sad it is that people of good conscience had not spent time expressing disgust at the work of Charlie Hebdo.  About how most of the Muslim and Christian world does not have our low brow, modern society  concept of tolerating anything just to say we are cool!  When in reality, it just tells the less developed world that we are so corrupt in the defense of our faith and core values that we will  tolerate any affront without a single word.

And, finally we should hae a discussion about how there were other ways to stop the vileness, which may have stopped the violence.  We as a society should speak out about what offends us, loudly and openly, including the actions of those who defile our beliefs.

We can condemn the killers without venerating the victims.

Who Protects Those Who Protect and Serve

We do.

Everyday about 780,000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics) get up each morning and go to work to protect and serve us.  Unlike our other protectors, those in military uniform who travel to deployment for a defined period of time, our police, state troopers and sheriffs live and work in the war zone everyday. Their families are within that war zone.

We have counted on them to stop crime, investigate crime and put the bad guys away.  Now our police are under attack.

We have the duty to protect them by:

• Letting each and every officer, trooper and sheriff we meet know that we appreciate his service
• Keep a protect eye on the families of our protectors
• Report and testify against those who commit crimes
• Be vigilant

We are better than this.

I am grateful for all you do.  And pray for God's blessing and protection for all of our protectors.