Sorry!

I didn't realize this was such a frequently visited site! I'll make sure not to skip days anymore. I almost didn't blog today because I have a fever and a cold...kindof a weird combo if you ask me. But don't worry, I went to the "chemist and druggist" down the street and pointed to my head saying hot and my nose saying runny....he gave me three different medications. i took two of the three about an hour ago and am still able to type so i think they are safe (unless they are just slow working).

Tuan left last night. I moved into a dorm this morning, they really cram those beds in there. The good thing is is that a dorm bed is less than $2 a night.

Not much else happened in the last 24 hours. We went to a special Mass in honor of Mother Teresa's Birthday. That was pretty cool. The archbishop and all of the sisters and novices were there.

In his homily, the archbishop talked about Mother's firm stance on abortion. I was thinking about that today while trying to take a nap. I realize that people who are reading this do not necessarily share the same views as me, but on this issue, I think it is important to not remain silent. As one popular pro-life saying goes "Silence kills, speak out against abortion".

I touched on this topic a bit in one of my recent posts but after thinking about it more I found I had more to say. Mother was not afraid to stand up for her speech after winning the Nobel Peace Prize and tell all who were listening that it is the countries who legalize the killing of children that are suffering from the greatest poverty. Now, this is a woman who knows poverty. She has held in her arms every sort of person from the very least-the beggar and the dying to the very greatest-Princess Di, and had lived in complete "financial" poverty herself. Yet, she can proclaim that a nation like the United States faces greater poverty than all of Calcutta. She says it is because we fear our own children. This idea seems so profound to me. How can we fear a tiny baby? It seems impossible but it is true. We fear them at a rate of nearly 4,000 a day!

When I take out all politics and all other crap that we are fed from very early on, and look at the heart of respecting LIFE, I see that it comes down to a choice between life and death. Abortion is the taking of a life, whether you agree with the 'personhood' of the fetus or not, abortion ends life.

As I look at the children I am working with I see massive physical deformities and Down's Syndrome and speech problems, and urine and vomit and drool. But what shines above all of those things is that each one of them is a life to be treated as equally as mine. How can any of us determine whether or not someone else has a right to live? Should I be of greater value than little Bashker because I can walk, or I can talk, or I can eat solid food? What is it that makes people feel that they have the authority to end his life? If he had been conceived in the United States there is a great possibility that he would have been killed in the womb. There is this idea that abortions don't really happen that often, but in reality they are happening all the time. The Planned Parenthood in your town is performing abortions everyday. It is happening right down the street from each one of us and why are we letting it happen? We protest war against people who could terrorize our country, we protest the death sentences of convicted criminals, we donate money to homeless shelters, but why can we not help the victim of abortion? (Please note that I too am against war, death penalty, and all other offenses against life, after all I am pro LIFE!) Why are we afraid of a child? They are so beautiful!

I have heard every argument in the book. One is that we can't let our government regulate morality. If I didn't want them regulation morality, why am I not protesting the fact that I cannot take a gun and shoot my neighbor and not be sentenced? If I say that it is in my "morals" to shoot my neighbor then I should be allowed to, right?

Another argument is "I would never have an abortion, but I can't tell others not to". Would you allow your friend to keep slaves even though you don't believe slavery is right?! Or let's say we were in another great Holocost and killing Jewish people was the right thing to do. Maybe the government tells you that if you don't want to turn in the Jews that you see, it is okay, you don't have to. But if anyone else wants to you have to let them. So even though you are not turning them in to be killed, they are being killed just down the street from you and you don't do anything to stop it. Would you stand for that?

I am also reading a book on contraception and how it is very closely linked to abortion. This is a particularly touchy subject even among devout Catholics. I think I won't get into it today, but maybe (if you are still reading : )) you can think about those two things might be connected. Once again, are we really so afraid of the child that we cannot be open to life?

I'm sorry if people don't like hearing this kind of stuff, but it is something very dear to me and the main reason for me being here in Kolkata. I believe in the sanctity of ALL human life from conception to natural death and in a culture of death it is important to stand up for life.

All of your lives are very precious to me, thank you for allowing me the gift of life (mom and dad) and everyone else for giving so much to my life!