Hey Friends!
Wow – I have just been blown away by the terrific response after Monday’s post on Facebook about my “Magic Toothpaste!” I just placed the order yesterday, so I will be shipping them out next week!
And in case you missed out on the fun, a) follow me on Facebook and Instagram so you will always be in the loop. But b) you guys had such an outpouring of demand that I made a website where you can directly order this miracle product!
So if you want to give this a try, you can go ahead and grab a tube for yourself. I promise, your smile will thank you! Just click here!
OK NOW ONTO TONIGHT’S POST!
I was walking home from the grocery store yesterday, carrying two ginormous bags that were large enough to smuggle a small animal in. And in front of my building were two “street ambassadors” for Planned Parenthood.
You know the type: they are wearing branded, Hanes T-Shirts, are carrying clipboards, and aggressively smile and wave you down from half a block away, while attempting to engage you in a clearly biased conversation. “Got a minute for women’s health?” No? Okay, have a great day…you heartless monster!!!
Honestly, these “street accosters” are the bane of my existence in NYC. Much like a cockroach. Never welcome. And incessantly hard to get rid of.
Too harsh?
Okay…maybe a little. But I digress.
My hands were full, it was a long day. And I did not want to get into it with my archnemesis, Planned Parenthood.
So as this PP ambassador was literally cornering me into the side of the building as I was trying to pass without engaging with him, I looked him dead in the eyes and said,
“I am morally opposed to abortion.”
And on my merry way I went.
At least I didn’t offer a cloyingly sweet smile and say to them, “Abortion is murder” as I have been known to do in the past. In my mind, I was making progress.
But putting away my groceries in my apartment a few minutes later, I realized that I had missed an opportunity there. An opportunity to engage in a healthy and respectful dialogue that could have actually been productive as to why I am against abortion, and by extension, Planned Parenthood.
I don’t know about you, but it seems as though recently, the world has seemed a little bleak. I don’t know if it’s because it’s the end of the summer and or because of all the scandals in the news right now politically, religiously, and pop culturally (hello, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B?), but I feel as though I’m a bit on an island.
Maybe you can relate?
But it’s like all of a sudden, all of the crap going on in the world and all the “BS” in society is rising to the top, becoming crystal clear and in-your-face.
Seriously, I feel like it all started with 13 Reasons Why. Our media — geared towards teens — has become so distorted and destructive. I mean, there was a movie out this summer called “Cock Blockers” – a tongue in cheek comedy about a group of high schoolers’ pact to lose their virginity on Prom Night, and the lengths their parents will go to “block” that from happening.
Pop icons are literally assaulting each other and throwing shoes at one another at fashion show parties.
There’s a new “trend” on Instagram right now called “Ribcage Bragging” where — you guessed it, Instagram models are flaunting their skeletal bodies, creating a destructive standard of “beauty” for young women to strive for.
The music we’re blasting is disgustingly derogatory towards women, and glorifying drugs and using women. or saying that “God is a Woman.”
We’re letting prepubescent kids take hormones to change their gender.
Iceland is bragging about “eliminating” Down syndrome when in reality, what that really means is that they’ve successfully influenced mothers to abort all the babies that would be born with Down syndrome.
We’ve got a Pope that people can’t stand behind, and a Church ripe with corruption.
We’ve allowed pornography to become so mainstream that the average age that kids are exposed to it is ten years old.
And the biggest problem is our indifference.
We are all just sitting back and letting this all happen.
Just like my response to the PP canvassers today.
No one is willing to stand up and take the unpopular opinion that, Hey, this is wrong. This needs to stop. We need a change.
We live in a society that if you utter a dissenting opinion to the “godless agenda,” you’re labeled as a bigot. Or ignorant. Or any other number of hurtful, biased names.
When are we going to push the pause button and at least ask the question of: What is the implication of all this?
But the even more important, and sobering question, is, How am I contributing to what our world has become?
Sure, my heart and mind say one thing, but do my actions shout, “Indifferent?!”
And that is a hard question. Because we are to live in this world, but not be “of” this world. And further to that, what can we do? Really?
It is a discouraging conversation to have with oneself. How do you stop a freight train with a feather?
And I keep going back to the PP Canvassers. I could have engaged them in a respectful conversation right there on the sidewalks of Greenwich Village, and explained to them why I value the sanctity of life. Why, because I believe that we are children of God, created and known by the Father in the womb, that I believe abortion is wrong. I could have had a fruitful, positive conversation with this guy.
But I didn’t. I took the easy way out, offering a “one liner” that frankly, didn’t help anyone in the situation. But I didn’t want to have a tough conversation. I didn’t want to be uncomfortable.
But the truth of the matter is that in order for anything to change in this broken world, we need to be willing to have those uncomfortable conversations.
We can’t be indifferent anymore. We’re drowning in it.
And it’s time we step up to the plate, and respectful conversation by respectful conversation, offer a different perspective. And give people an opportunity to stop and think, and reevaluate what they’ve been taught to believe by this pop culture freight train to nowhere.
See ya tomorrow morning on my VIDEO Podcast, Oh What a Beautiful Morning!!
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BeautyBeyondBones 
[…] She wishes in retrospect that she had engaged them and made her own case for not killing babies. I invite you to read her article Drowning in Indifference. […]
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Thank you for the link up! Hugs and love xox
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(Ha ha the gingerbread man)
Theology and the arts, is where my mind wanders on this topic
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Thanks
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You preach it girl!!! As usual, you’re very brave in this evil world, keep it up because: “they triumphed over him(devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” Rev 12.
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Aw thank you so much friend! Hugs and love xox
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It never fails to dismay me, how hard-hearted and rigid so many people are towards those who do not neatly fit into the binary gender categories. Does everyone who espouses the teachings of Jesus REALLY think that He would shame queer people? Or off-handedly claim to love them, with the next breath rejecting them for their ungodly “choices”?
If there weren’t such denigration attached to being queer, as currently evidenced by legislative efforts to establish a religious right to discriminate (I’m reminded of how religious beliefs were used as a valid context for outlawing marriage between “different races”), perhaps those families who turn to medical interventions would be less hasty or desperate to gain a sense of control over the disparity between the interior truth and external condemnation.
Perhaps interesting to note, I read an article (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/opinion/sunday/bible-prohibit-gay-sex.html) by a linguist that explored how a close reading of what is often claimed as the Bible rejecting homosexuality in indeed moreso a dictate against incest. As in, the same line of command that prohibits incest between assorted relatives also covers same-sex prohibitions of incest. Not really a commentary about the consensual physicality between two unrelated same-sex adults at all.
But I guess that interpretation would disallow the categorical deeming of queer people as unacceptable. Which, for reasons my innate sense of empathy cannot fathom, seems to be a binding force of sanctimony among some who call themselves followers of Jesus.
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As usual a great peace you have written here. I particularly like the expression, “godless agenda.” That’s a great way to describe some of the ‘ugly’ or immoral things the society is accepting as normal.
As per the PP encounter, I know you will have another opportunity to engage them with the truth. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you Victor. You’re right – i should engage! Hugs and love xox
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I have appreciated your post, Caralyn, and the responses to date. Thanks everyone. I add a couple thoughts: one comes from pre-R-v-W, when a distraught pregnant teen who could not face her pregnancy would be out behind the shed with a coat hanger to stop the ordeal and ends up doing a good deal of damage to herself. I am not pro-choice but at the same time my opinion leans to have some form of a legal, discreet, sanitary method of abortion. Hopefully the society we live in can create a world where we connect to each other in deep-than-surface-level relationships and support can be given to each as they require help.
For Christians I offer the 5th chapter of Galatians. Start around the verse 16 or 17. Anyway, Paul lists a number of sins — followed by the Fruit or “character” of the Spirit. Yes there are sins around us but for us the clear answer and response is Love, Joy, . . .
-Jeff
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Thanks Jeff for sharing this powerful perspective. Yes. Love! Hugs and love xox
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As medical science continues to show the humanity of an infant in the womb (clearly NOT a ‘blob’) I expect support for infanticide to erode. Eventually, Abortion will have the same stigma as slavery or elder abuse. No rational person would defend such evil things today. Christians need to be unambiguous about the sanctity of human Life (babes & seniors). The Church failed to do this with slavery for too long.
I suggest waiting until you have patience and focus before engaging strangers on this emotional topic.
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Thank you James, wow what a powerful response. I appreciate your support. Hugs and love xox
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So how do we deal with the fact that God allows most pregnancies to abort naturally?
This was Jesus’ point to the priesthood: you make hard rules punishable by death, and all that people see is an angry and usurious God before them. Who would worship that?
As I reason things through, God doesn’t care about our bodies. They are simply tools for healing our souls. Each soul has its own path, and every moral discussion should start from the question: “What is the path being followed by this particular soul?” That includes the mother as well as the fetus. Prepare mothers to make better choices with their bodies, and we’ll have fewer abortions. But that means ALLOWING THEM TO CHOOSE, and loving them even when they make mistakes.
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The moral proof of Christianity is not in preventing others from committing things that we consider to be sins. It is in demonstrating that a Christian upbringing creates happier and more fulfilled lives. Lead that life and people will notice, and ask you to explain.
There was a humility in the early Church because they lacked political power. Their faith was the only protest they could exercise. The Church grew because they choose to take care of each other, accepting that because none had the teachings of Christ before he came, they would all guide each other forward. People noticed. They found hope in their solidarity.
Christian influence lies in difference.
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Thank you Brian, for this thoughtful response. You’re right – that’s an interesting thought. Hugs and love xox
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What food for thought – thank you.
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Thanks friend Hugs and love xox
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I love this post! While my family was over for my sons going way party we were sitting around the bonfire as one by one people left but the few of us that were relaxing and chatting we talked exactly about everything you just wrote. This world .. our world is out of control it feels like a downward spiral. I know is still in control and knowing that is so reassuring ,but it’s still very scary.
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aw thank you so much!! sounds like a great night — I love bonfires. I agree — still very scary. big hugs xo
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Yes bonfire are so nice ! Hugs to you! Xo
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