margaret thatcher

this is a video of margaret thatcher's granddaughter, amanda thatcher, reading from ephesians 6:10-18 at her grandmother's funeral a few weeks ago. amanda is a devout christian and her reading at the funeral caused a stir among the british media. her parents are divorced, and amanda and her older brother, michael, live in texas with their mother and were margaret thatcher's only grandchildren.

 {source: google images}

i did not know much about margaret thatcher before her death, but since then i've been reading a bit about "the iron lady." she was the first female prime minister of the united kingdom, and resisted totalitarianism internationally. her devout christian faith was the foundation for her politics, which included conviction for less government, more freedom and greater personal responsibility. she has my respect and admiration.

Said about Thatcher:

“People may differ about her politics – and she divided opinion as any politician does – but there is no doubt that she transformed Britain, she brought back respect, gave us a backbone and she fought for us." [Lord Carey] 

{source: UK Vogue}

Quotes by Thatcher:

"We must not profess the Christian faith and go to Church simply because we want social reforms and benefits or a better standard of behaviour; but because we accept the sanctity of life, the responsibility that comes with freedom and the supreme sacrifice of Christ."

"If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing."

"It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake."

"I am not a consensus politician, I am a convictions politician."

 “The truths of the Judaic-Christian tradition are infinitely precious, not only, as I believe, because they are true, but also because they provide the moral impulse which alone can lead to that peace in the true meaning of the word for which we all long… There is little hope for democracy if the hearts of men and women in democratic societies cannot be touched by a call to something greater than themselves. Political structures, state institutions, collective ideals are not enough. We parliamentarians can legislate for the rule of law. You, the Church, can teach the life of Faith."

a must watch

please make time to watch this.

it will make your stomach churn, but it is something everyone should be aware of.

the lack of media coverage for this case is wrong - just like everything about what was going on at the clinic run by dr.kermit gosnell in philadelphia was wrong.

i couldn't stop thinking about this. i feel like someone who is letting another holocaust happen. remember after the holocaust in germany, the disgust for the people who stood by and let the injustice happen?

i feel just as guilty when i think about abortion. to me it is not a matter of God "letting it happen" and wondering "how He could let it happen." what? no! we are the ones letting this happen. whether by living in our safe boxes and not reaching out to people, by forgetting and ignoring it, and by not doing anything to help. human lives are being snuffed out every day and i feel so guilty for letting that happen, but i want to move past that place of guilt and into action.

did you watch? what do you think? what can we do?

on planned parenthood and abortion

i had to write an article about recently released abortion statistics. went to planned parenthood for the first time and WOW - i was  out of breath when i got back to my car. there were no dogs chasing me. it is just that heavy of an atmosphere inside. and i'm not exaggerating when i say that everyone in the waiting room stared at me when i went in.

their public relations team is so elusive. their comments (when i finally reached them) were vague and practically worthless for a decent article. "that's such a small statistical change it's not even worth speculating why abortions rose in that county ..." and literally the same answer to explain the 65% rate of complications on abortions in PA. i don't know, i think thousands of dead babies is significant whether it's a "small percentage" to you or not.

if you're not sure where you stand about abortion, or find my comments abrasive or uneducated, please check out this excellent post by john piper titled "we know they are killing children - all of us know." oh and what about the disproportionate number of african-american women receiving abortions? care to comment about that? or about the reason margaret sanger founded planned parenthood in the first place? and why they were (and are) strategically located in certain areas?

the whole "thing" saddens me. the way so many people in our country are being conditioned to think that abortion is okay. the way people give up on thinking it is wrong and fighting for it to end. the language created to distort what abortion actually IS in people's minds. it is heartbreaking. my editor kept correcting me whenever i said "pro-life" he would say "anti-abortion." uh, no. please stop trying to trick your mind. why do you get to decide the language used to discuss this? the opposite of abortion is LIFE. the opposite of LIFE is death.

letters, smoking, politics

dear chelsea,
... please pray for me, i am afraid i might beat the shit out of someone ...
love, dad

that, my friends, was the best part of the letter i got from my dad the other week. he was concerned about having a nicotine fit if his smoking breaks continue to be limited. i decided now is probably not a good time for me to approach him with the idea i had of asking him to donate to my wedding the amount of money he has spent on cigarettes in his lifetime. or even just this year - which i'd estimate to be $1300 if cigs are $50/carton and he smokes a carton in two weeks.

my "logic"  (keep in mind that logic of people planning a wedding often goes out the window, i don't know what it is but these celebrations make people craaazy) here is that i have been a lifelong advocate of him quitting, and i bet that's a job people get paid for somewhere. and i doubt those people are as awesome as me. the fact that he still hasn't quit smoking might indicate to some people that i have failed at my job as "smoking cessation advocate," but i have been as persistent and annoying about it as a piece of corn on the cob stuck between your teeth and that's what counts.

he will undoubtedly laugh and ask me why i'm so greedy, and i will say well dad, i don't think it's greedy if you don't give me any money. read the parable of the persistent widow. just kidding, don't. or at least don't read it thinking it applies at all to this situation because that really has nothing to do with this. she was persisting for justice and i really am being greedy. son of a!

oh well, it is still worth a shot. (there's the wedding crazy in me talking again!)

his letter was also quite timely because on the day i read it i shared his exact sentiments about wanting to beat the ---- out of someone. it's stupid, but i had almost hit my boiling point with people and their political rants and stereotypes and judgments. just stop it. stop being ignorant. do not act like you are taking any kind of high road when you are being completely intolerant and disrespectful of those with different beliefs. we're allowed to be different. it's actually really good to be different and i'm pretty sure that at some point it was what made america so great. please stop assuming things about people based on their political beliefs and at the very least be respectful of everyone. i sound like i'm writing to a bunch of wily five-year-olds, but in my opinion political differences can make people act worse than kids jacked up on sugar.

i don't speak up in those ... conversations ... and maybe my silence IS what makes my blood boil like that, (because God knows i had plenty of aggression to let out at the gym that night) but i have trouble imagining that words make any difference in those moments, when people already have their minds made up. maybe they could, but i know for sure that actions do make a difference. actually helping people and choosing to love and care about them.

and i also know i have a looong way to go with that too, because even though i try really hard there are still days when the best i do is exercising enough self-control to not beat the ---- out of someone. maybe that's why i'm a little cautious to speak up when it comes to bold conversations about how a country should be run.

it's sad that those important conversations too often turn into cat fights and bullying. i think we'd all be a lot better off just asking how we can help the people right in front of us. i'm challenging myself to do that. first step: don't punch people in the face. (fyi i have never actually done that, but the temptation lurks.) second step: take a deep breath and do something to help someone.