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08 January, 2011

Disheartening...

I don't usually post things like this, but I feel like both of these things need to be talked about. Both of them are very controversial. So if you aren't a person who doesn't like to read or talk about controversial issues, you're more than welcome to not read this post. For those of you who are either curious or just someone who likes talking "controversy," stick around!

Yesterday, a good friend of mine posted a story about an actress many of you may recognize. Her name is Afshad Azad. You may not recognize her name, but she played a character in one of the Harry Potter movies, Goblet of Fire. She was Padma, the girl Ron took to the Yule Ball. Remember her now?


She is about the same age as the rest of the stars from Harry Potter - 22. Just two years younger than I am. As you might guess from just her name, Azad's family is Muslim. She is now in hiding from her family because she committed the "sin" of dating a man who is not Muslim. In the Islamic faith, Honor Killings are often practiced. For those of you not familiar with the term "Honor Killing," basically it allows men to kill women who have dishonored their family. When her brother and father found out about it, her brother beat her and her father threatened to kill her.


This woman doesn't live in Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan. She lives in England. Sadly, these Honor Killings are becoming more and more common in the Western World. As usual, the American media that would usually be all over this type of story is silent. I have a feeling that if this woman was running from her Christian father and brother, instead of her Muslim father and brother, this story would be plastered all over the news - TV, internet, newspapers, magazines, etc. But, because the US is so open to all things Islam and slow to accuse the Islamic faith of its violent nature, no one will touch a story like this with a 10 foot pole. Because the US (and heck, while I'm at it, the UK) is slow to act, this talented actress is bound to live a life of hiding and secrecy, fearing for her life. 


It's up to us to air this story and, hopefully, help her get back to a normal life. For more information [and possibly a better post] head over to JG's blog.


❊❊❊


Now for issue numero dos. 


While I was having a massive, hilarious, awesome conversation with some fellow milspouses today on Twitter, I ran across an article with this title:




My heart instantly sank. Forty. One. Percent. Looking for an actual number? "In 2009, women in New York City terminated 87,273 pregnancies..." Over 87,000 children were killed before they ever left their mother's womb. The womb, which is possibly the safest place a child will ever be. And yes, I said killed.


I absolutely hate the term "fetus." It makes a baby - a child - seem less like a life. The minute that baby is conceived, it has a heartbeat. We just don't have the ability to hear it. It's too tiny for us to see for weeks. Those babies are fully reliant on their mothers' bodies to grow and nurture them. And tens of thousands of women are killing their children. 


We - the US as a whole - has no regard for life. None whatsoever. We say we do; we like to think that we do. You know what they say, though: Actions speak louder than words. People will protest against wars, claiming we're killing innocent people. Well, you know what? We are! We're killing our very own children. With barely a second thought. In essence, we are practicing genocide. The very thing we fought against Hitler for. The very thing we accused Sadam Hussein for. Yet, we're eager to pass laws legalizing the killing of babies. Babies that can't speak for themselves. Babies that can't tell politicians how much they would love to see the light of day. Personally, I believe that the reason cancer and many other diseases haven't been cured [and probably won't be] is because the child who would grow up to discover a cure has been killed. That's what I believe. 


What's even more sad is that there are just as many women who would love to adopt a child as there are women who don't want a child. I think it's absolutely selfish of a women who gets pregnant "by accident"* to say, "I don't want a child. I don't want to ruin my body by carrying a child." Today's culture is all about "me." What I can do for me. How I can make my life better. It isn't about how we can help others. It is so wrong... That's what these women are doing. 


I would love to speak to someone considering abortion and ask them, "What about the child that is growing inside of your body? What do you think they would like to become? How do you think they would live their lives?" I would love to tell them that some woman - some family - would love to have a child. A child that otherwise wouldn't feel love in this world. A child that would be discarded. Shoot, I would love to have one of them. Just to rescue them from their situation. 


I'm currently reading George Bush's book, Decision Points. In it, he discusses the topic of stem cell research. This research began by, in essence, killing embryos -- babies. He describes how he arrived at his decision to not fund stem cell research, but to allow research on the embryos (babies) that had already been destroyed. He also encouraged scientists to find alternatives to stem cell research. This is my favorite quote on this subject (and quite possibly of the whole book):


"Bob Casey, the late Democratic governor of Pennsylvania said it well: 'When we look to the unborn child, the real issue is not when life begins, but when love begins.'"


When I read that, I wanted to yell, "AMEN!" That is the absolute truth. That's what it all boils down to. Women who don't love the child growing inside them (which I find absolutely baffling and I've never been pregnant), kill it. You know what? If you don't love that child someone will. And that someone will love you for giving them the chance to be a mother. That child will forever be thankful that you chose to give him or her life


Thus ends my super-controversial post. Feel free to comment, but know that any rude, mean, nasty and/or anonymous comments will be deleted.


*I believe that no child, no pregnancy is an accident. As Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you." God is the Creator - the Author of life. Who are we to decide who lives and who dies?

14 comments:

Ms. Ro Chelle said...

Great comments on abortion. Agree 100%

heather said...

I agree 100% on both topics.. And yes they are babies as soon as they are created... Good for you for putting this out there...

Amanda said...

I love both your topics today. I am so sad for the young actress & believe that due to our government feeling as though they might "offend" the Muslims that live amongst us they do nothing. But I am a Christian who is Offended that it is so easy to take prayer, & the pledge of Allegiance out of my children's classrooms!! They don't seem to mind offending me!

I have known friends who have gotten abortions & they know my stand on it- as soon as you conceive it is a baby,not a fetus. They refuse to discuss it with me & call me narrow minded. But I just remember the passage in the Bible that says
Mt 7:13-14 : "Enter through the Narrow gate, for Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter there. But small is the gate , & Narrow is the road that leads to life, and only few find it."
I try not to judge which can be hard & often times makes me wonder if being friends is still ok with these liberal ladies. But I also feel maybe my example is in some small way helping guide them eventually to a home in Heaven.
So I applaud your controversial topics - it always makes me think & dig out my Bible. It also reminds me to Live by example- Do as I say & as I do-LOL

Have a beautiful day-

Lou said...

omg i didnt know that was happening to her .That is horrible thanks for sharing, i have heard of that tradition. They go through with their traditions it would be so scary to live by those rules.

Jenifer said...

WOW! I totally agree with you on these issues... thanks for bringing them to "light"

Skinnie Piggie said...

You go girl! =)
Agree on both...

I hate that the American media is so pro-islamic anything these days, just to keep themselves from being called "bias." And babies, are babies... from sperm attaching to egg, I don't understand how people can't connect the dots. They teach us in science class in middle school!

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

Oh my gosh! That poor girl! I hope she ends up ok!

Roller Coaster said...

I just read that on JG's blog about that actress. That is horrible!

And that statistic about abortions in NY is shocking. Wow.

Great post!

Mandy said...

I absolutely love your blog. Your blog is actually one of my must reads.
Now that I said that, on to my question/comment about this specific post. You kept saying how if the child was to be given up for adoption it would be adopted and loved by someone else. But what about all the kids that are already waiting to be adopted and probably wont ever get adopted? I do know that the chances of an infant getting adopted are much much higher than a child already orphanage, my point just is that there are already so many kids out there that do need love. Not that it makes it right to go and "kill" babies.
While I am pro-choice, which to me is different than pro-abortion, that number is heart breaking.

Chelle said...

It amazes me how someone even in the movie industry still has to deal with these issues from her family. It's so incredibly sad and reminds of the not so far away times where we had the issue here in the US with whites and blacks.

As for the other I have learned you never know until you are in those shoes. I will say this though, if I did not have my abortion I would not be alive today because I never would have had the courage to leave my ex-husband and he would have taken my life.

However I find that I have absolutely no tolerance for women who use abortions as a form of birth control. That to me is just disgusting and horrible.

JG said...

Thanks for reposting that info.

If nothing else (and there are somethings else) all of this makes me thankful that this world is not my home.

Katie said...

Preach it, sister. I saw that headline yesterday (or Friday?) and was appalled. I honestly didn't think it was true until I read through the article. Crazy.

Ashley said...

100% agree with you on the Abortion issue. It's such a shame that women are using that as a form of "birth control." It makes me sick!

Unknown said...

You know I agree. I am also giving you a big thank you for this!