What do I want? This simple question was in a friend’s blog. (http://sueyoung.vox.com/library/post/what-do-you-want-1.html) It was her question from the Lord, repeated to a degree that she took notice. I read it and tried to ignore it for a while. Didn’t work. So now I’m simply probing what I want, (a lot of stuff!!) which leads to asking what I’m praying for, if anything. And if I want something, but have not been or do not pray for it – well then, why? So in the process of writing this, I realized that there are actually a pretty long list of things I want, and some are pretty complicated actually. But perhaps the list of things I want isn’t as interesting as whether or not I actually pray that these things will change, or put some human effort into the cause. So I’ll be posting a series of blog posts over the coming days about what I want, and what I’m praying for, or if I’m not praying for these things, then why? I’m going to start with an easy one.
Politics. Yeah, deep breath for that one. Brace yourself.
Ok, don't.
Look at my picture - I'm pretty harmless looking, right?
:)
What do I want? To be a part of a political movement that is simply pro-life, even after the womb. Across the board, post-womb pro-life.
I’m not even pro-life in the traditional sense, though I think abortion is pretty much just plain sick. But if we’re going to call this one thing a moral horror then let’s not be complete hypocrites about it.
War is a pro life issue. To think that we can sow violence and reap peace is to be completely ignorant of history and humanity to a colossal degree. Injustice breeds more terrorism – didn’t we see this with the way WW1 ended? The injustices that were created in the ending of that war, the poverty and humiliation gave birth to one of the worst terrorists this earth has seen. And things have not changed.
Sow injustice – reap terror. It’s a simple law of the garden, whatever you put in the earth will reproduce after its own kind. Sow torture, rendition and Gitmo and expect to reap PEACE? Come on! Every gardener knows better than that! This is a pro life issue with serious ramifications for Americans
around the world! Can’t we learn from someone besides the bad guys? How about Ghandi! Nelson Mandela! Desmond Tutu! Dr Martin Luther King! We’ve got people who have heroically and humbly shown us a better way. Let’s pay attention! Please! Argh!
The death penalty is a pro life issue (well, duh!) If killing an unborn child is a crime against humanity, how about an adult? And what about when one race is overwhelmingly represented on death row because of the inadequate work of public defenders, poor detective work, poverty and
the absolute indifference of the media? It is interesting that other developed countries look at America and shake their heads that we still kill people in our retributive and punitive justice system that is based on vengeance. Vengeance belongs to God, as does the choice of when a human life begins and ends.
KATRINA is a pro life issue! I mean get real people!
What the insurance industry has been able to get away with in post Katrina America is a freakin CRIME! This isn’t some developing country! We should be spending as much on this situation as we are on Afghanistan and Iraq! These are OUR OWN people! Tour the area now, two -almost three years later and you’ll see whole neighborhoods that are still nothing but empty dirt and debris.
Where is the moral outrage of the populace and the strength and indignation of the government and the commentary of the media? Out to freakin lunch! It’s such a nice lunch to – light casual gourmet organic fare with a glass of chardonnay… *BARF!* Out of sight, out of mind. What a shame, in the land of the free, the home of the brave. One of the richest countries in the world. What a freakin shame!
We should be standing up to Israel and telling them that oppressing the people within their own borders is just plain stupid, and why don’t we just give the Palestinians a postage stamp to call their own and quit being such jerks about it?! To think that GOD would condone this kind of behavior based on some Old Testament theological twist is a completely moronic concept! If Israel is the Promised Land that is God’s favorite patch of dirt, then how could we condone the existence of such injustice – especially in His Land – IN HIS NAME? It’s time to read more than three verses of that Bible text and start to underline the word “JUSTICE” every now and then. It might even change our politics! *gasp!* Well, it could happen.
Oh wait, I didn’t mean to get side tracked onto foreign affairs… Back to our own soil. Uh yeah, our soil! Apparently our approach to the hole in the ozone is to build a pile of trash big enough to plug it up manually. We consume an incredible amount of pre-packed individual serving food, not to mention single use plastic bottles, newsprint and my favorite earth horror: Walmart bags. When my hubby and I worked in an area hit (bullseye!) by Katrina we saw Walmart bags completely blanketing the neighborhood close to where the Walmart had been. Wrapped around freaking everything. Oh, it was eerie!
Reduce, reuse, recycle! But it’s more than that, we need to be protecting our national park treasures and paying attention to some of the horrible mining and logging that’s being done in different out of the way places in this country. And drilling for oil in pristine wilderness? WTH? Is nothing sacred? And emissions are important, air land and water emissions – run off into our waterways is a concern. And then there are the international agreements we’ve broken – because we are the biggest brat in the sand box. Really, if we don’t get a handle on what we are doing to the environment, then we will literally be leaving our children not just an inconvenience and a mess to clean up – we will be leaving them a life and death situation. It is unconscionable that this is not part of the political debate among people of faith. The environment is fast becoming a serious pro-life issue!
And then there are the children, who go without heath care in this country because three things are stacked against them – poverty, lack of health insurance and a morally corrupt government whose votes are bought and sold on the open market. No child should be left behind in this country by not having access to needed preventative medicine, health care and/or health insurance. Families brought to the complete financial brink by the expenses of an illness of a child should be helped by the government of and by the (reasonable) people. To ignore the crisis while the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical industries continue to show profits in the stratosphere while millions of poor children go untreated, denied reasonable treatment in the face of illness is immoral and shameful. Health care for poor Americans is definitively a pro–life issue.
Don’t get me started on all the moral superiority that seems to go hand in hand with the
“pro-life” agenda while being blind to all the ways our government causes and allows death and destruction. What do I want? I want BUSH to have a change of HEART! But maybe it's a bit late for all that - we are in up to our nose hairs. I want to have my voice heard in the upcoming political elections that being pro-life in this country needs to include LIFE AFTER THE WOMB! That one little dangerous insane thing is WHAT I WANT!
That's all.
Yeah,
That's all.
:)
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