Politics and Polluters

OK, I can't believe I am doing this... taking up the subject of politics on my first REAL post? Probably not so smart, and I am sure my "approval ratings" will probably drop significantly for it.

I just received an email about Sarah Palin with a link to a poll asking Christians to turn the percentage around and say that we really do think she is qualified to be VP. As I looked at the list of names in the Fwd block, and considered all of the hype Christians are making over this woman, I feel the need to cry out, "What are we thinking!?"

I understand that she is pro-life, anti-gun laws, and holds a firmer position than even McCain in a lot of areas. However, it seems that we as Christians are going to be willing, even eager, to overlook Scriptural principles on the roles of women.

When I told our children who she was, my daughter's first comment was, "if she has that many children, does she really need to go to the White House and be VP?" Another friend of mine commented something along the lines of, "it seems as though we do not want our daughters to become feminists, but we are willing to make an exception if it is something as big as the presidency."

It seems so true! How many godly mothers who have taught their daughters to be submissive and under the husband's leadership are presently campaigning for a woman to leave her children, take leadership over her husband, and do the opposite of what we are teaching? (All in the name of Christ...)

It just seems to be lacking in consistency.

Ok, Ok, I know some of you might be thinking, "Oh, wow, this person has gone off the deep end and has turned radical on us..." NOT TRUE... I am not saying I am going to cast my vote for Socialism; I am confused, and I am troubled that no one seems to be feeling hesitation over this matter. There it is, I suppose that is the thrust of why I am so bothered... It is such a weighty matter, and it seems that the conservative Christian community has just jumped on the bandwagon without pause because we are supposed to be Republicans.

I will attempt to step down off the soap box... one more thing... I am not sure what I think about the whole situation, so please do not accuse me of being a Palin basher or a door mat to my husband!

As I step down off my soapbox, I realize the root of why the poll email stirred me up so much... I have had a cup of coffee after 9:00 PM and that on top of a VERY troubling experience at our local library today.

I have heard statistics about internet pornography and other things, but the truth of those things and the reality of them being present in our small community was very clear this afternoon.

We have been having internet woes (for the last 6 months), and I finally decided that I would just take the kids to the library a few days per week to allow them computer time. My reasoning was that we could spend 30 minutes, everyone could have a turn at once (with high speed internet), and it wouldn't be a big deal.

This afternoon, many of the computers were full, so the librarian plugged my children into computers spread around the little area (we like to get 4 in a row). As I stood setting Josh up on PBS kids, I realized that the woman directly to my right was looking at pornography. Josh was engrossed in Word World, so he didn't see anything, but I quickly held up my hand and asked her to please stop. As if I had made a very unreasonable request, she changed the image and tilted the screen away from me. I continued to glare and give my "nonverbal" that I am so bad about doing without realizing (although it was definitely intentional today), and she logged off and left a few minutes later. When she was safely out of the picture (literally and figuratively) and a young boy (about 10-12) was in her place, I went to check on Sarah. As I logged her onto her email, I couldn't help but see that the MAN next to her was scrolling through pictures of BOYS. Determined not to jump to conclusions, I thought to myself, "maybe he is looking for his cousin or friend or something..." THEN I realized it was match.com, and he was signing up to be the "secret admirer" of several of these boys. At this point, I knew it was time to go, so I began to round up the troops. As I was getting Josh off his computer, he realizes that the boy next to him is playing games much more exciting... there are realistically animated men with machine guns killing people and leaving them in pools of blood all over some dungeon. AAAHHH!!! Would the nightmare never end! I turned in the girl, and the librarian knew who she was... turns out she sits at the computer regularly for lengthy intervals. Hopefully they will be able to stop her... but I can't help but be concerned for young boys who might be preyed upon by the man, and what about the boy who is getting ample virtual practice with automatic weapons...

My friend summed up my feelings when she mentioned that our "Fair and Friendly City" is not all we think it to be. Really, the Lord has been opening my eyes this evening to how much our community needs HIM... not just the Southern religion, but CHRIST. If I ran across that much sin and hurt in a 20 minute span, how many more out there are hurting just as badly? Oh, I pray that He would give me the wisdom and understanding to deal with this!

In the meantime, my children will not be using the computers in our library!