"I Felt...Unlucky to Be Born a Girl"

12.29.2010

Very often we take for granted what we have here in the US. We’re so far removed from the early days of the first immigrants who perished trying to figure out the lay of the land. Years passed, land expanded and laws formed shaping the country in which we find ourselves today.

We women don’t know a world without having the choice to work or voting, and can’t comprehend what suffragettes like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns had to endure. I also don’t think anyone can understand the value of education like the first and second generation of freed blacks did. We, as a culture, don’t (want to) understand pain and hardship because we search for escape whether it’s through medication, food, or shopping. It's also difficult to comprehend that the rest of the world doesn’t live this way.

I read an article in today’s LA Times that made me appreciate living in this country and in the time period. [1] The article was about the lower class of girls in Nepal who are sold into slavery to pay off their parents’ debts. Often these debts are for basic necessities including fertilizer so that they can farm their land. The money they owe is roughly equivalent to $25 and these girls don’t ever have a chance of leaving their positions because one debt leads to another. These girls’ brothers are, of course, not sold into slavery and are allowed to pursue an education. Hearing such news always angers me. Women endure so much regardless of status or wealth and men will never understand. How do explain any simple injustice to someone whose genitalia opens any door from the get go?

Thankfully, the reason this article was in the Times at all is because things are changing there. Various foundations led by the US-based Nepal Youth Foundation are convincing the fathers that there are other ways to pay off their debt. Ten years ago about 14,000 girls were enslaved. Today the estimates are at 1,000. Many girls are going to school and one said she plans to become a lawyer and help girls like her get out of the slums and get an education.

Those of you with daughters hold them near and my humble advice is to keep the memory of women before us alive and in your daughter’s consciousness, and to those with sons my humble advice is the same. History is not meant to be forgotten. It is to be appreciated and learned from because nothing comes for free. Sacrifices were made on our behalf so that we too could dream of reaching for the stars. By remembering the past, we honor those before us.

---

[1] http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/28/world/la-fg-nepal-indentured-20101229

Mark Twain on the School Board

11.15.2010

“God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.” – Mark Twain.

…and I would add, “followed by anyone in politics who claims to have education as their top priority but conveniently forgets about it the day after elections.”

Superman

09.08.2010

I think my brain is too consumed with all the bullshit that is happening in the world politically starting with that idiot pastor in Florida who wants to burn the Quran on Saturday to the upcoming governor and senator elections in CA to just being tired of being angry because I have nothing interesting to write about today.

The only baby-related incident that I could write about is that on my walk this morning, I saw a father carrying his little kid in his arms and holding him like Superman. The father walked really fast to make it look like he was flying while the mom pushed a stroller behind them. I thought this was really sweet and it put a smile on my face. But then I came home and opened the paper…

…Sigh…

Republicans and Democrats: Abuse at Hand

05.18.2010

Republicans focus on the individual and hold an attitude of “to each his own.” There’s no room for sharing and the desire to make money partners with the belief that one should keep the money for him/herself. As a result of this, Republicans are geniuses at organizing and monitoring (their) money. On the flipside of that, you have Democrats who believe in sharing and hold an attitude that “it’s our duty to help.” And when it comes to money, Democrats suck at organizing and monitoring it.

Republicans have also aligned themselves with fringes of society who insist on controlling what goes on in people’s homes when it is convenient for them: for example, gay marriage and abortion. On these points, Democrats believe government should have no say. Republicans want all the public services that government should provide: fire departments, good public schools, and a police department. But they don’t want to pay for it (so they set up systems to make the poor pay for it). Democrats want the same things and don’t mind paying for it – but, let’s remember, they have no idea how to shuffle around the money correctly and so they contribute to the passage of rules, laws, incentives, etc. that, in turn, make the poor pay for the roads, schools and PD. Thus, two different systems and structures that come to the same result.

As this ridiculous song and dance plays out between the two parties, we have serious issues bubbling within society that no one is paying attention to. In Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, California Section, front page, a headline reads: Child Abuse Tips Slow to Be Resolved. As government fights and makes cuts to social programs (and I agree that there are frivolous ones), children are still getting abused and no one is taking the proper steps to ensure that these children are taken care of. Is it because the children aren’t our children? Is it because our hard-earned dollar shouldn’t go towards someone else’s child? Is it that fundraising for the next campaign with slogans like “Children are Our Future” is more important than to actually take steps to follow through on the slogan? Is it because that so much abuse occurs in the lower-income bracket that “these” children don’t matter?

I was once a staunch Republican. eagerly awaiting to vote in my first presidential election in 1996. I also headed the call of my Catholic education where I was taught that helping those less fortunate (like Jesus did) is actually a benefit to myself if not for any reason but to feel good. Eventually the skeleton of what Republicans stood for and focused on began to conflict with my beliefs. The problem is that I don’t see any party really helping anyone but themselves and, despite now belonging to the Green Party for close to 10 years, the US has no place for 3^rd party voices.

Regardless of one’s political aspirations, I don’t understand why it’s so easy to so passionately fight for the protection of an unborn fetus under the auspices of “protecting children” but then completely forget about the child once he/she is born. Both Democrats and Republicans only pretend to care. Republicans claim to care on the fetus level and Democrats claim to care once the baby is born but both sides care mostly in pleasing the upper classes that will keep getting them elected. And those people will always have the money to hide their indiscretions. A child who must feel the pain of a hot iron, feel starvation, or suffer through the smacking around of a parent/guardian isn’t as important as making money. And that, my friends, has become the only thing that matters.