Have you ever seen a two week old baby with a broken arm? I have. How about shaking baby syndrome? What about a baby born to drug addicted parents who drug the baby to get it to sleep?
Have you ever seen a child who had never seen a book prior to kindergarten? I have. And almost every public school kindergarten teacher has.
In central Florida there used to be a huge billboard with adorable, chubby babies all over it. Every time I saw it I thought some of the babies should have black eyes or body casts. Because that's reality.
If you're having high feelings in the current political climate, here's something you can do. Buy diapers, lots of them, for parents you know are short on cash. Diapers are expensive. They are also a trigger for spouse abuse, and, even if the baby isn't directly abused, wearing a soiled diaper for 24 hours can cause considerable harm over time, not to mention the excuiating pain the baby endures.
FOLLOWING IS A POSTING FROM 2015
Today marks the 42nd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. But (as you know if you know me) I don't discuss abortion.
What I do discuss - and feel passionately about - is birth control. I am for it. I am for women and girls having children only when they want to and choose to. I am for healthy moms and babies around the world. While I am not a fan of promiscuous sex, I am also not a fan of pregnancy as a punishment for having sex.In this respect, I am a big fan of Melinda Gates. She and her husband are giving away billions to help people all over the globe in eradicating scourges like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis - but Melinda's special passion is birth control. She wants to cut world wide child mortality in half.
Not much research has been done in the contraceptive area in the last 20 years but Melinda says that one day we might have a contraceptive that would dissolve, like a breath mint melts in your mouth, though it would be inserted elsewhere. Or an implant in your arm that lasts three to five years.
Melinda Gates was raised a Catholic. I don't know how she relates to her faith at this time. But even Pope Francis, while he did reaffirm the Catholic Church's stance on contraception, just told us last week that we females "don't have to breed like rabbits."
Thank you Pope Francis. That's good news.
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