Reading the paper

Hey all,

If there is time before church I like to sit down and read the paper on Sundays.
The kids and I sit around the island in the kitchen, and we will have cereal or a muffin and read. They will probably read the comics, and I will read almost every article in the what I call "the front page" section.

As an aside, I can't let my kids read the paper. There is so much depravity out there. It is murder this, rape that, fights, cheating littered throughout the paper. My 10-year-old son (who turned 11 yesterday) and I have to have what I think is a premature discussion when he turns to me and asks, "Dad, what is rape?" Last week, the front page main article was on this 17-year-old girl who has been missing for two weeks. They think she met a guy on My Space and she either left with him or he abducted her. "Dad, what does abduct mean?" This leads to a discussion about the dangers of the computer and how evil is lurking EVERYWHERE.

But this week, after I was done reading about four articles, I just had to shut the paper. I had had enough. I will give you a brief summary of these four articles.

#1...Two people in Fresno, California are being charged with child endangerment for giving their child (come to find out that they held him down) a gang tattoo.

Shouldn't there be a law against stupid people having kids.

#2...A nun, who was an administrator for a Catholic hospital, was fired from her job and excommunicated from the church when she orchestrated an abortion for a patient.
I am not going to get into what I think about abortion. What my big issue is that here is a woman that is getting paid by the Catholic Church, to be a nun, for a long time and works for a Catholic hospital. I don't know if she knows this, but the Catholic Church does not condone abortion. If you think abortion is okay, then quit the church and go work for another hospital. Then the article started to bash hospitals for not doing certain procedures because of religious affiliations.

What ever happen to free trade?

If I have a dental office and I don't really believe in extracting teeth, and if you want a tooth extracted then DON'T COME TO ME. Go to the guy/gal right down the road that extracts teeth. What is wrong with that?

#3...Here in the Central Florida area there is a 13-year-old girl who finished high school and has passed all entrance exams to college, but our local community college would not accept her. Their board of directors made a rule that they will not accept anyone under 15, stating that a college campus is not a suitable for a 13-year-old. I have a couple of issues with this one.

One, who the heck wants their 13-year-old to be finished with high school? So let's say she goes to college and finishes at 17. Is she someone that I would want in my, say, Marketing firm? Let's say she goes to dental school. As a patient, do I want a 21-year-old dentist?

I have a daughter who I think is smart as a whip. When she was 2 and was going to the pediatrician, our doctor said to us, "You do realize she is not normal. She is gifted, and you need to start considering a special school."

We didn't.

We are going to home school her this year because we don't want to accelerate her, but we want to broaden her. If she is finishing stuff too fast and with too much ease then it is time for some field trips to illustrate her education (but that is just us).

Two, what's the problem with this school? She has finished her requirements to get into school...what gives? You are an educational institution, educate. Since when does a college or university become socially responsible. How about let's not kids in until they are really mature, say like 30 (maybe it would be 18 for girls and 30 for boys).

I was 18 when I started college, and let me tell you what, college was not suitable for this 18-year-old. I drank more beer and saw more naked people than I had seen in my whole life. The 13-year-old girl's dad, who is a retired engineer, said that he would chaperon his daughter until she is fifteen. NO GO, says the school.

#4...I don't even want to go here but I have to complete the story.
Did you hear about the stuff in Malawi? Well I will hit on the main points.
In Malawi it is a crime to be a homosexual.
Two people were arrested and the judge, wanting to make an example out of them, sentenced them to 14 years in jail. Now the president of Malawi pardoned them on the grounds that the United States threatened sanctions on his country.

I don't agree with either of these parties. I don't agree that people should be arrested and serve time for being homosexual. And I sure as hell don't agree with the big bad United States threatening countries that don't do things our way. But then, you say that you can't sit back and give money to countries that are killing their people.
So we know killing is wrong, but where do you draw the line?
Up until killing?
How about circumcising girls?
How about countries that tattoo their 7-year-olds?
This is a slippery slope.

Four articles in five minutes, and I haven't stopped thinking about all of them all week. There is some real heavy stuff going on that really is too big for me.(I looked up this story about Malawi and let me tell you how heavy the discussions were on the forum sections. This is very dividing stuff. People were mean, people were crude, people were angry.)

When I think about my little world, and I think my problems are huge, all I have to do is open the Front Page on Sunday mornings and I realize there is this HUGE world out there with some really heavy issues.

I don't know what else to say.

Thoughts?
Comments?

Have a good Wednesday,
john