Friday, January 23, 2015
Slavery a Pro-Life Issue?
Let's think GLOBALLY! Tie the issue of slavery to the pro-life movement. (Remember that the pro-life movement is not just about abortion). In this link to St. John Paul II encyclical Evangelium Vita, you will find a section titled "What have you done?"(scroll down until you get to number 10. That is where the section starts). Read it and explain how "slavery" is a "pro-life" issue. Remember to focus on our theme: FREEDOM! Then find and post a poem about being free. Do not be afraid to think outside the box.
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At first I will have to admit my views on this blog were a bit skeptical regarding how to relate slavery to the pro-life movement. However, after reading "What have you done?" my view on this blog completely flipped around and changed its perspective. In just that short section of reading my views on pro-life in comparison to slavery finally made a connection. Although thoughts can sometimes be grim but at the time be good in thought, such as killing an unborn child because you couldn't financially provide for the child or abusing another sentient being for we see ourselves as a higher power, does not make the motives morally right. In today's society no matter the means financial stability trumps all moral decisions; even if that means killing children, enslaving people, or using other human beings to achieve a goal of some sort just so that individual will be able to provide for themselves.
ReplyDeleteAs I stated before the world has become a grim place indeed resulting in political corruption, drug addictions, alcoholism, and the death of unborn children. Although these examples are plaguing the modern world there is one that stands out amongst all the "death of unborn children." At first I will admit that I didn't care much about what was going on in the world in the case of abortions, simply being because if the ends justified the means I didn't care. I only thought long term, and not as a Catholic. I thought that if a child would suffer once born into a family that couldn't provide for the child, why bring it into the world just so it could suffer? This made sense to me simply because making someone suffer isn't any better than killing them in my previous mindset. However, I have learned since embracing my Catholic roots that if you give that child a chance at life there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. Also if you give that child the chance for their own freedom they could do great things, such as start their own successful business, begin a family of their own, or become an icon of a generation for others to look up to.
Slavery on the other hand is something that does not give the victim a full chance of redemption. Slavery once was a norm of the American society in the 1600's as we know from our American history lessons. Since then slavery was said to be eradicated by the 13th amendment, or so we have been told. Even today people are fooled into slavery; it might not be the normal workforce related slavery that we are accustomed to hearing about, but it is out there. Generally speaking many of these slaves don't come out in the public regarding their former employment for fear of being judged. Also they might be permanently scared for life from some of these acts the person has witnessed/experienced. This often makes their ability to become free clouded because of their isolation. In the some cases this type of slavery is just as bad if not worse than abortions.
DeleteThe only reason that I can think of regarding these two problem and freedom is about their long term lifespan. For the abortion side of this discussion we argue the unborn babies fate versus the families ability to care for the child. In my opinion have the child give them a chance at the world, don't just shut them down without giving them a chance. Then for the slavery side of things back in the 1600's slaves were never originally plan to be let free. They were only seen as property/tools for usage then disposed of. That is the same way it is today just everything is more quite, or under the table. These victims once let free don't exactly have many choices in the options of living, or ideas of what they should do now that they are free. So in a way you deal with one positive and one negative idea in this blog. Although unclear which is decisively better in the either case, God gave us the ability of free will to make our own choices. Whether their choices be good or bad we can't force our views as Catholics on the rest of the world. Yes both slavery and abortions are terrible concepts to think about but they will always exist till the end of time.
Devyn,
DeleteI know I do not often comment on your blogs but I was impressed by this one because you took a different approach than I expected. The way you tied abortion and slavery together through the idea of financial stability as being the ultimate goal really did highlight the more corrupt part of our society. But there is always a part the is less "grim," or at least I like to think so.
I think that a part of the people who engage in abortions and slavery is fear - fear of giving birth or giving a child to such a cruel world and fear of not being in charge and not having control. These are real problems, but, to play off of what you said, the means do not justify the end. Slavery is not the answer to gaining power. An abortion is not the answer to saving a child or yourself from pain. Of course, I have always wanted to sympathize with the mothers that felt the need to have an abortion, but all I can ever think is that they will feel more emotional pain after robbing their unborn child of any sort of life. However, I do wish you had experienced Felicia's presentation on the corruption and inefficiencies of the foster system last year because that came to my mind as I read your blog. A lot about our world is "grim." I wrote a large research paper on poverty last year and I know that over half the people in the United States alone will experience poverty for at least a year of their life. What kind of a world is this to bring children into? But then I reflect upon the poem I chose for this blog which mentions the "scent of orchards in the rain" and "the sea" (Teasdale 7). Who are we to every deprive anyone of life's simple pleasures? What deep and troubling questions these are. But I love that your blog made me think so much! Good work this week, Devyn.
The Freedom of the Moon by Robert Frost
DeleteI've tried the new moon tilted in the air
Above a hazy tree-and-farmhouse cluster
As you might try a jewel in your hair.
I've tried it fine with little breadth of luster,
Alone, or in one ornament combining
With one first-water start almost shining.
I put it shining anywhere I please.
By walking slowly on some evening later,
I've pulled it from a crate of crooked trees,
And brought it over glossy water, greater,
And dropped it in, and seen the image wallow,
The color run, all sorts of wonder follow.
Sorry I thought it had posted with my blog but it got cut off I guess.
Devyn,
DeleteYou begin your blog with how you didn't know how slavery and abortion went together. As I see it, slavery is the beginning of abortion. Slave holders were killing people for no benefit, not even their own. I think that describes abortion in a nice way.
Anyways, you made some great points in your blog. The financial stability families feel is a very key point! What confuses me is how they can afford abortions, but are not willing to hope for a better future for their coming child. That's a very selfish thing to do, and is an excuse out of responsibility. As for slavery, I do not believe it will be here forever (at least I'm hoping it won't be). I'm praying for a time when people are able to recognize when they are being taken advantage of. There are some forms of slavery that people like, but I'm not going to talk about that. Is there evil in this world? Oh, yes. More than there should be. But slavery is an evil that we have the power to abolish. People are too ignorant to recognize what real slavery is and what isn't. So for now, no one is free. That is the truth. Great blog this week!
Before this blog, I only ever associated pro-life with abortion. I guess I never looked at it in any other way because we are a Catholic town and we fight to stop abortion. When you take away a person's freedom, life, and rights, you are essentially killing them. Freedom gives a person life, and it gives them the will to live. In the case of abortion, the baby does not have any choice in receiving life whereas in slavery those people were forced to give up their lives and their freedom. A lot of slaves survived because they desired their freedom so much. Every individual deserves the right to have a life full of freedom.
ReplyDeleteIn slavery, Africans had their identity and freedom stolen by those who did not consider them to be human beings. To be pro-life means to be think every individual, from a fetus to someone on their death bed, as a human with rights. As soon as a person is not longer thought to be of equal value, they are at risk for losing their freedom to choose, live, feel, believe, etc. People do not "realize the extent and gravity of the attacks against life which continue to mark human history" from slavery to abortion to human trafficking. As St. John Paul II stated in his encyclical Evangelium Vita, the question that God posed to Cain, "What have you done?," can be used to make people see the consequences of their actions. The results of what has been done with slavery will remain forever on our society. I think that there will always be some sort of grudge or horrible experience held between whites and blacks. This permanent mark will haunt America because of the lack of feeling of pro-life. As Dr. Seuss put it, "A person's a person no matter how small." To add to that, color should no matter, but it did. A simple difference in skin tone was such an outrageous characteristic that it shielded white people from seeing that there is a human being just like them behind the color. During times of slavery, white people were not acting pro-life because they were cruel to African Americans, and they stripped them of their freedom.
It is scary to look back at this time of horror in America. Freedom is something that is taken for granted, as is life itself. Being pro-life means never allowing anyone's life to be put at risk for any various reason. Every day slaves worried about whether or not they would survive another day. For some, freedom was their only source of happiness to look forward to. They could not wait for the day when they could either successfully runaway or when slavery was officially abolished. It is weird to think that today we cannot wait to turn eighteen and graduate from high school. To us, that means freedom. But in reality, we do not know the first thing about freedom, and I think we can learn a lot from what happened with slavery.
Society's Puppet-Slave
DeleteBy KirstynAlexandra
Tie strings to my back,
Arms,
And Legs
Tell me what to do, and where to go next
Shove a magazine picture in my face
Tell me that this is what I should look like,
This is what I should be like,
...right here on this page
Tell me that the anorexic, blonde chick is the definition of beauty
Tell me that I'm ugly,
Tell me that I'm wrong,
Tell me lies.
Try to change my hair,
My clothes,
My personality
I refuse; I don't let you
Tell me that flaws are not reality
I want to stay different
Call me a b****,
A s***,
And an undeserving liar.
Tell me that I need to burn in hell
And live in fire.
Harrass me,
Call me names,
Because I am not the same
I get overwhelmed.
I can no longer live this way,
Tighten the belt around my neck,
Cover my head with a paper bag,
Listen to my heavy breathing,
Look down at my moving chest.
Let five minutes pass
Until my chest no longer moves,
Until my breathing is no longer heavy
...it is silent
Look at me through different eyes
Tell me that I'm perfect
Tell me that my flaws no longer exist
Tell me that the girl in the magazine is fake
Tell me that photo editing changed her, as a matter of fact
Tell me that she is really fat,
Tell me that her hair is actually brown
Tell me I am beautiful,
Tell me I'm perfect,
Tell me I don't need to change
Tell me that I am no longer,
Society's Puppet-Slave.
Tell me the truth...
So I found this poem on TeenInk, and it is about how we can become slaves to our society. We don't have the freedom to choose because society lends to sway our decisions and make us feel like we need to be something we are not. I really like this poem, and I like the truth that it speaks.
Natalie,
DeleteI love reading your blog when we have such powerful prompts like this one because you never fail to deliver a response that strikes me with how honest and real your words are. Your last few lines were almost painful because of how true they are. We don't know the first thing about lack of freedom. Here we are waiting and whining because we want to escape our homes and our lives and find something new but we don't understand that some people didn't even have the choice to live. For me, it didn't matter that we had learned about slavery and the Holocaust because I did not realize how ungrateful I was for my life until I read your words "we do not know the first thing about freedom." I can't imagine how Anne Frank found joy or how slaves found peace because, in the scheme of things, I have never suffered. Your blog left me with the clearest perspective of how wonderful it is that we all have homes and families and a school that we are allowed to attend.
I'm done with being all sentimental and emotional now! The poem you picked was fantastic! It reminded me of "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy - remember "Consummation at last/To every women a happy ending." This poem held as much sass and pain and honest as "Barbie Doll" did to me. And it is so interesting that you were able to connect that to the issues of slavery and abortion. It felt like a triangle to me, you have slavery and the issues that women face with societies ideal image of them at the bottom and they are connected by the fact that women are given the choice to rob an unborn child of life - a choice that I can only image most women painfully regret. You did a beautiful job with this entire blog. Keep up the good work!!
Oh my gosh, Natalie! I love teen ink and I love the poem you chose! How creative to think to go and find your poem on there, and wow! What a poem! While I myself have mixed opinions on society, I do agree that we are often slaves to others expectations. I also must mention on something before I forget, the Doctor Suess quote you added in there was such a nice, cute little touch that really did a lot for your blog!
DeleteHonestly, writing this blog and reading everyone else's gave me the chills. I agree with all that you have said in your blog, especially in your last paragraph. It is honestly terrifying to look back at what America once was and all that we have done to the people. Not only that, but all that is still going on. How can a world so beautiful be so ugly? Your little analogy of our high school graduation and what exactly we view freedom to be, breathtaking. I kind of hate myself after reading it, LOL. this was an amazing blog, and going back to teen ink real quick- you should submit this!
amazing job, Natalie!
Natalie,
DeleteFirst let me say thanks for the welcome back! I cannot wait to tell you all about what happened in the DR as it was amazing! Anyway, on to your blog. This was really an excellent way to pose your opinion on the slavery/pro-life discussion, and I think it was really intensely thoughtful. I really liked how you used the question to Cain in your blog as it is really an important quote. I guess our town doesn't really think about pro-life past life in the beginning years and the end years of life. I like how you included both ends of the spectrum, but with the slavery issue I think the other in between years are important too. Yes murder and things like that are obviously not pro-life, but those are things that are established. These other things such as euthanasia and slavery are grey area topics. Your poem was awesome. I think that is one of my new favorite poems actually. I am so happy you posted it so that I had the opportunity to read it. It was really easy for me to connect with, and has a lot of the same opinions I do about society and the freedom that we need. Great job!
Natalie,
DeleteLet me start off by saying that I absolutely LOVE the poem you choose. I especially like that you choose it from Teen Ink because I love reading things from undiscovered writers like ourselves. I like how you chose one about slavery too as well as freedom. In my blog I wrote about how we often become slaves to society and social media some time or another in our lives without even realizing it. I think that comparison was an excellent one to make so good work with that. Referring to your response to the blog itself, I like you mentioned that slavery will forever have an impact on America because you could not be more right. Just like everything else that happened in our nation’s history, things will never be the same because of them. I find it very hard to believe sometimes that slaves were treated so poorly simply because of the color of their skin. How can someone be considered a piece of property just because their skin is darker than someone else. I mean some of the best, or most well-known people in the world have darker skin, look at Ben Carson for example. You did an excellent job on your blog and just to say it again I’m in love with the poem you choose. Keep up the good work!
It is easy for us to think of murder as when someone is shot, hit by a car, or poisoned. But what it is often hard for people to realize is that we also murder people by allowing them to starve to death, drink unsanitary water daily, and bully them into taking their own lives. Death occurs every day and because of that people can often be desensitized to it until it strikes close to home. This is dangerous because it makes it so much easier for countries such as the United States and China to hoard the resources available to them instead of sharing them with the sick and malnourished in Africa and South America and even in their own countries where the homeless and impoverished fight for a living or give up and die in the streets because death is their only source of freedom. It is our job as humans and as a greater country to support all forms of life even if we have not done so in the past.
ReplyDeleteWhen the United States was formed there was the ethical dispute about slavery that lasted for hundreds of years. Now, although race is occasionally still an issue, we have other problems with the right to life such as abortion. Slavery and abortion, when taken at face value, do not appear to be similar and yet, in the most simplistic sense, they are. Slavery is depriving a person of the life they might have known had they been free to learn and live in the first place. Abortion is the same in that everyday hundreds upon hundreds of unborn babies loose the same things that slaves lost – the right to learn, to work, to read and speak, and to live as they want – and they are most importantly robbed of their lives. Just as these unborn children will never know their families the families of slaves were separated and sold and also killed. Still today, although slavery is no longer legal, people of the same and different ethnicities die due to lack of medication, food, drink, warmth and, for the babies, lack of someone that is willing to bring them into this world.
The greatest point of debate for the issue of abortion is that the women carrying the babies should have the right to choose. But where are the children’s rights? States could decide whether slaves could be bought and sold in their territory, but where were the slaves’ rights? If God were to ever comment upon the state of the world today maybe he would ask us, just as he asked Cain, “What have you done?” (Gen 4:10). Man allowed the genocides such as the Holocaust and the massacring in Rwanda. Man allowed humans to be bought, sold, starved, beaten, and worked to death just because they were of a different race. Man continues to allow women to steal the lives from their unborn children, and man still allows the developed countries to waste and waste everything while mothers in Africa sacrifice their own dinner just so that their child might have an unsatisfactory meal. What have we done? Have we considered the world as a system, or have we been too focused on ourselves? This question addresses the world as a whole as well as each individual person who can pass a homeless man on the street without even glancing at him. We can try to comfort ourselves by saying that cases of abortion and starvation are inevitable so why attempt to put a stop to them, but deep down every human knows that for each moment they waste in silence another child loses the right to life and another impoverished family starves.
In “Since There Is No Escape” the speaker sees life as freedom and her “lover” (13) and death as what she cannot “escape” (1). I chose this poem because it both conflicts the idea I proposed of the impoverished and emotionally tortured seeing death as freedom and goes hand-in-hand the idea that, for those robbed of life, they are doomed to “the end” (1) and to never experience “the scent of orchards in the rain” (7) or “the sea” (7). This poem also reminded me of the fact that the more privileged people can often get so wrapped up in their own pleasures that they neglect to acknowledge those who cannot afford or are not giving the chance to live a similar life full of fanciful desires. What they do not realize is that their joy should not stem from the material but from granting others as much happiness as they can.
Delete“Since There Is No Escape” – Sarah Teasdale
Since there is no escape, since at the end
My body will be utterly destroyed,
This hand I love as I have loved a friend,
This body I tended, wept with and enjoyed;
Since there is no escape even for me
Who love life with a love too sharp to bear:
The scent of orchards in the rain, the sea
And hours alone too still and sure for prayer—
Since darkness waits for me, then all the more
Let me go down as waves sweep to the shore
In pride, and let me sing with my last breath;
In these few hours of light I lift my head;
Life is my lover—I shall leave the dead
If there is any way to baffle death.
Ann,
DeleteThis is such a powerful blog! When you said that death is sometimes the source of freedom for some people, it made me think of this movie I watched today. It was about human trafficking in different countries, including the U.S. These young girls and even boys are sold because their families cannot afford enough food to support them. These kids, and some of them were only eight or nine, do not have a choice as the decision has already been made, and they have their innocence, rights, and freedom just stolen out from under them. Although they wanted out of the situation, some of them embraced death and wanted to die just to escape the horrors of being sold into sex slavery. Every single person deserves the right to live their own lives the way they want, and I am ashamed that things like abortion, slavery, and human trafficking have occurred and are still happening. We do not realize how important freedom is until it is gone. I absolutely love the poem you used for the blog. It really speaks the raw truth of freedom and what happens when you aren't pro-life. Overall, this was a wonderful blog. Keep up the great work, Ann!
I can understand where people come from when they argue that abortion should be legal. Some say it’s better since the woman would not be able to properly care for the child or even if the woman was raped. However, I can argue both of those points with the same reason; there are thousands of couples and people in America alone that would love to adopt, raise, and provide for a child. Abortion is another topic in itself though that I’m not going to really get into. When I read the blog topic for this week I wasn’t sure where I was going with it because I didn’t understand how slavery was a pro-life issue, but after I read the section from St. John Paul II encyclical Evangelium Vita my thoughts on the connection changed. In the piece we had to read for the blog God asks the question, “What have you done?” This question can be related to any pro-life situation, abortion, slavery, and even others.
ReplyDeleteWe all know about the pro-life abortion campaign and how it relates to abortion but maybe not how slavery can be considered in the same category. After reading the blog prompt and St. John Paul II encyclical Evangelium vita when I read what God proposed to Cain, “What did you do?” I instantly thought of slavery and realized that that same question could be proposed to the slave owners. My personal definition of pro-life is making sure every individual is able to do what they desire without others stepping in their way. This relates to abortion because the babies never have a chance to grow into an adult because they are aborted. It relates to slavery because the slaves did not have the opportunity to do as they desired simply because the white people considered them property instead of human beings.
Slaves had no freedom; they did what their masters said when they said to do it or they were severely punished or even killed. They did not have freedom which is a big part of the pro-life movement. In the fourth paragraph under #10 the following question is asked: “And how can we fail to consider the violence against life done to millions of human beings, especially children, who are forced into poverty, malnutrition and hunger because of an unjust distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes?” This is probably one of my favorite lines in the entire piece because it pulls things together and puts everything into perspective. Slavery was so violent and made it so that blacks had no opportunity to become who they wanted to be because they had their freedom stolen from them. They, the slaves, also had to beg for food. The majority of them were not fortunate enough to have owners that fed them enough for all of the hard, manual labor they did. There is one distinct reason they were treated so poorly: the color of their skin. This can be related back to the same paragraph under #10 when it states “the unjust distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes.” The slaves didn’t have the same resources as the whites simply because of their skin color and low social ranking.
I never really thought about any other situations falling under the pro-life besides abortion. However, as I think now I realize how wrong I’ve been. Although slavery is illegal in the United States, society has a way of making its citizen feel enslaved with the help of social media and television. In the truth, the majority of America has been or will be a slave of some sort during their life time whether it’s to a job, a person, or another part of society. I guess the most important thing to remember is that freedom is something to always strive for just like it is critical to fight for an end to abortion and all other things against pro-life movements.
Jessica,
DeleteI too can see why some women would have an abortion. I have actually had many discussions and arguments on what could be done. I think the main question is should the mother free herself of a "burden" or free the child into a world that their existence changes? I remember last year in my English class Sophie wrote a story of an unborn child talking to the mother. Of course the mother is unable to hear her baby, but the baby is aborted. Now you're probably thinking that the mother went to an institution. She did not. Her husband actually beat her until his wife had a miscarriage. SPOILER ALERT: the mother kills her husband and herself. Sometimes abortions aren't what the mother wants, so the father forces her or does it himself. It's sickening, I know. It makes me want to throw up and cry just thinking about it. The mother in Sophie's story is enslaved to the man she is with. He treats her like a slave too. She is there to please and pleasure him, and when she doesn't meet his expectations he hurts her. I think the worst part is that her story is so realistic. Awesome blog this week! You referred back to the link a lot.
So I logged back onto the blog to read the comments and to comment myself only to see that my poem never posted. So this is my third attempt at trying to post it. Sorry if it posts more than once, guys!
DeleteI really liked this one and I hope everyone else does as well.
"I'm Free"
-Unknown
Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free,
I'm following the path God laid for me.
I took his hand when I heard his call,
I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to work, to play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way,
I've found that peace at the close of the day.
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
Ah yes, these things I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My Life's been full, I savoured much,
Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch,
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me,
God wanted me now, He set me free.
The human life is a fragile thing. It is influenced by the environment, economy, and other simple factors that are dictated by the greed and selfishness of others. In America, the slave economy is deplete. There are no slaves anywhere to be found. We did our free country of that tradition ages ago with Abraham Lincoln and his success during the Civil War. At least, this is what a lot of people believe. This is not the truth. It's not even remotely close. InAmerica, there are slaves everywhere. The difference between now and the times when African Americans, women, children, Orientals, and others were forced into slavery is that it has been made illegal, and therefore has run underground. Now, if I made this statement out in public, most likely nine out of ten people would say to me that this is not the truth. They would say, "Yes, in other countries that happens, but not here." Human trafficking is actually very common in America. It is a form of slavery, and it is actually a big black market industry in America. Prostitutes, children sold into labor forces in other countries, and young men sold into military groups are all slaves, and this practice is a violation of the pro-life ideas.
ReplyDeleteSlavery is horrible. A slave by definition is a person who is the legal property of another person and must be obedient to them. They do not have rights. Their life can be forfeit at a whim by their owner, and no one could interfere. This doesn't sound very pro-life to me at all. Forcing someone to be obedient to anyone is a sin. God asks that his followers be obedient to Him, their elders, and parents. But He would never force anyone to be obedient to Him. That is why He gave us free will. As you all know, I recently went to the Dominican Republic and had an amazing experience. When I was there, I encountered a few sad tales of children being kidnapped or taken from parents. They were not in the areas where I was located, but one mother told me that her friends who lived near The border of Haiti had lost their daughter when she had been taken from them for human trafficking. They have no idea where she is, but they suspect that she has been sold into prostitution of some sort in Haiti. This girl no longer has life. Her life has become the property of another being.
Slavery holds some of the most horrifying traits found in many of the "worst" sins of the world. For women it often means sacrificing their bodies for the pleasure of men so that they can be fed and survive with an existence that stills resembles humanity. For men, it means sacrificing their bodies in labor, slowly wasting away until they are nothing but a shell of humanity working day after day for the small amount of food and water that they will be granted when they have finished their work day. God calls each person to exercise His will, not their own. Slavery is not the will of God, in fact it is the opposite, and its existence is an ugly scar on the face of the human existence.
A Sad State Of Freedom
Deleteby Nazim Hikmet
You waste the attention of your eyes,
the glittering labour of your hands,
and knead the dough enough for dozens of loaves
of which you'll taste not a morsel;
you are free to slave for others--
you are free to make the rich richer.
The moment you're born
they plant around you
mills that grind lies
lies to last you a lifetime.
You keep thinking in your great freedom
a finger on your temple
free to have a free conscience.
Your head bent as if half-cut from the nape,
your arms long, hanging,
your saunter about in your great freedom:
you're free
with the freedom of being unemployed.
You love your country
as the nearest, most precious thing to you.
But one day, for example,
they may endorse it over to America,
and you, too, with your great freedom--
you have the freedom to become an air-base.
You may proclaim that one must live
not as a tool, a number or a link
but as a human being--
then at once they handcuff your wrists.
You are free to be arrested, imprisoned
and even hanged.
There's neither an iron, wooden
nor a tulle curtain
in your life;
there's no need to choose freedom:
you are free.
But this kind of freedom
is a sad affair under the stars.
Hannah,
DeleteWelcome back! I'm glad you had a good time in the DR, and I'm happy you all made it back safely! Back to your blog, wow! Human trafficking is a major problem, even in the US. I just watched this movie this afternoon about human trafficking, and it really opened my eyes. In some cases, fathers will sell their daughters just to receive money to be able to afford some food for the rest of the family. That is just awful and it certainly makes me more grateful for the life I have. Slavery in the 1800s was just as bad. They were not sold into sex slavery, but they were sold to perform extreme physical work out in the fields. But in each case of slavery, those stuck in it have nothing. No freedom, no rights, no home, no future to look forward to because they never know what might happen. Freedom is a delicacy, and we take that for granted. We do not know what freedom really is, not unless we have ever suffered something as horrible as slavery. Pro-life is something we should all strive to be, and until the entire world is pro-life, slavery, abortion, and human trafficking will continue to exist. Your poem was so powerful. I think it just goes to show how easily freedom can be taken away or altered. I wish that weren't the case, but it is, even today. Overall, Hannah, this a wonderful blog. Keep it up!
Are any of us really free? I believe we are all slaves to something, but we share common slave holders. They would be the media, society, and our own government. Abortion has been a major issue for a long time now. I am Pro-Life and feel there are better ways to handle unwanted pregnancies. However, I have to allow myself to understand why someone would have an abortion. The "slave holders" place the idea in a woman's mind and even persuade her to "get rid of her problem." She is the only one that can keep hope for the child she is carrying. As a developed country, America should be encouraging women to bear children for a stronger society. Abortion is our government's form of suicide; it is killing its own future.
ReplyDeleteUndeveloped countries are the exact opposite. They may not be promoting child birth, but they have a higher birth rate because they are uneducated. So what do developed countries do? They give them birth control that forbids them to have any chance of children. Are we now trying to make the world a utopia? History has proved that it will never happen. It's like slavery all over again. Developed countries are enslaving underdeveloped countries women by taking their freedom to have children. They are creating a wall that does not permit women to decide whether they want to have children or not. These women are a group out of a few that are willing to chance death for their child any more. Abortion has allowed women to decide who gets to survive, and most times it is the mother.
Who are we to say how many people populate this massive world? God will find a way for all of us to survive. We need to stop being selfish and start thinking about the future. Has anyone ever noticed how happy the poorest people are, yet the richest are miserable? What does that tell you? It tells me that love is stronger than any amount of money, and money does not buy freedom for the things others cannot "afford."
I tried to choose a poem that I could tie into this topic. The ocean is what reminds me of freedom, therefore "The Ocean" by Nathaniel Hawthorne seemed to be a perfect fit. Hawthorne emphasizes what is beneath the raging waters. I made a connection of the waves to humans. There are two kinds of people in this world, those with a calm exterior with a raging interior and those with a raging exterior with a calm interior. How is the second of the two possible? Have you ever seen someone yelling and screaming for show? They know what they are doing, and are calm about it. The ones who begin to tremble when they are angry are the ones with a raging interior. Something had to break through their shield to make them explode. However, these two types of people share one thing in common, and that's passion. So let's make their passion freedom. There's no stopping them. They're going to do whatever it takes for that freedom, that peace beneath the waves.
So why are we being feeding women birth control? We will never find peace with ourselves, one another, or with God if we keep forcing death down their throats and into their stomachs. Soon enough ethnicities will become extinct like the dinosaurs. Is that what we really want? Have we thrown away our own desire to survive? I hope not. Just like the raging ocean waves, we have to keep our calm underneath to succeed in killing abortion. Women have the right to keep a child or give it away, but they do not have a right to kill an unborn baby. Nine months is a small amount of time in our lives. Children need a chance to break free and become their own person in society.
"The Ocean" Nathaniel Hawthorne
DeleteThe ocean has its silent caves,
Deep, quiet and alone;
Though there be fury on the waves,
Beneath them there is none.
The awful spirits of the deep
Hold their communion there;
And there are those for whom we weep,
The young, the bright, the fair.
Calmly the wearied seamen rest
Beneath their own blue sea.
The ocean solitudes are blest,
For there is purity.
The earth has guilt, the earth has care,
Unquiet are its graves;
But peaceful sleep is ever there,
Beneath the dark blue waves.
Kaitlin, I loved your blog! You had so much information in here it was amazing! You clearly did your research! This is your best blog you have ever written, hands down. I loved it all.
DeleteIn the opening paragraph, I really liked how you mentioned "slave holders" and how they could take on different forms, as I agree that we all are slaves to something wether we want to admit it or not. When you wrote how to idea that is being planted into peoples minds is to "get rid of the problem," I got the chills. A child is anything but a problem and it makes my heart hurt. This whole topic is just heart breaking in general. You also did an amazing job typing your poem into your blog, and what a lovely poem you picked! It's incredible how perfectly it fits with your topic. I loved your blog, and I am so excited to see you back in class this week!
Kaitlin,
DeleteI loved your opening line to this weeks blog "Are any of us really free?" That can be said about so many "slave holders" other than those you listed, but all of those were great examples. The biggest one out of those you listed is the media, simply because we have grown accustomed to wanting the next big thing. Then once someone we know gets it we want the object even more. But anyway back onto your blog. In third world countries their birth rates are higher because they don't have the medical abilities of abortion that we do. Also any attempt they try with their unsterile equipment might result in the mothers death. For everyone to stop thinking about themselves and think about the future would be absolutely impossible. The world's focus for self-preservation is another topic of the Pro-Life movement arguments for those considering an abortion. I however can't comment on your last paragraph because I don't know the details of that topic. But I'll take your word for it, and close with saying that your ending statement of "Children need a chance to break free and become their own person in society." is a great idea that could be argued with no winner ever coming about. So well done, and great blog.
Kaitlin,
Deleteare any of us really free? That was an incredible way to start off your blog because I actually had to stop and think about it. I concluded that, in fact, none of us are truly free because we’re bound by restraints of someone and some kind whether it’s a boss, our parents, or even society. You talked a lot about the ideas behind populating the world and the pro-life movement as we more commonly knew about before this blog assignment. It’s true though, who are we as one person to say how many people can be in one country. My favorite point to bring up about abortion is the concept of not knowing who that child was going to grow up to be. No one will ever know if that baby that was aborted would have grown up to find that cure for the cancer that you would die from. That baby could have been a president of the United States or even saved innocent lives in another way, but the world will never know because of the choice made by someone else. The point you made about birth control, I have to agree with to a certain extent. I believe that it should not be used to prevent child conception, but there are also medical reasons that it can be very useful for and because of this I believe it should not be completely diminished. Slavery is a lot like abortion in the sense that those black men, women, and children were not free just like the innocent babies were not free. Good work!
On wednesday, a conversation in my personal finance class caught my attention. We were talking about money, and how it didn’t seem right that it costs so much to adopt a child. Then, one of the students mentioned a specific situation they knew of, where not only did the parents pay to adopt the child, but they had to pay the biological parents as well. That sounded a little bit strange to me, it seems as if the biological parents had sold and made a profit off of their own child. Paired with all of the slave talk in our AP Literature class this week, I couldn’t help but wonder, isn’t that kind of like slavery and slave trade? Slavery is still an issue today, and can even be tied in with the Pro-Life/Pro-Choice movement.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s safe to say that everyone has heard of the whole Pro-Life against Pro-Choice situation, but maybe not to its full extent. When we think of this, chances are the first thing you think of is abortion. Right now, this is a big debate going on where the Pro-Choice people sat that abortion is okay and the Pro-Life people are against it all together. Just be these standards alone, I know that I am Pro-Life. However, The movement does not stop here. Honestly, I feel as if Pro-Life means more than just a movement. I think that Pro-Life is somewhat of a symbol, and it can mean something different to different people all while typing in the same meaning of freedom and of hope. People are supposed to life, and life free without fear and I think that this is what Pro-Life stands for.
Slavery is undoubtably a Pro-Life issue. The Encyclical Evangelium Vita emphasizes the value of human life through Gen 4:10, “What have you done?” I honestly do not know why this verse as well as this passage does not make a bigger appearance in the Pro-Life movements, it is so powerful and it really helps to tie in the Catholic meaning of it all. Human life is such a delicate and beautiful thing. Even just the thought of stealing someone else's life is just so unbelievably, disgustingly horrid. We all know that murder can be referred to as the stealing of ones life, but what about slavery and slave trade? Those who were forced into slavery were not in control of their own life. They had no choices, everything was decided for them. They were degraded and treated less than human, some animals were treated better than them. No human should live the way that they had to. Their life had literally been stolen and unrightfully been taken away from them. I am proud to say that I am Pro-Life.
Emancipation
No rack can torture me,
My soul's at liberty
Behind this mortal bone
There knits a bolder one
You cannot prick with saw,
Nor rend with scymitar.
Two bodies therefore be;
Bind one, and one will flee.
The eagle of his nest
No easier divest
And gain the sky,
Than mayest thou,
Except thyself may be
Thine enemy;
Captivity is consciousness,
So's liberty.
Emily Dickinson
Felicia,
DeleteI found it quite interesting how you were talking about this in personal finance, and the small story that went along with it. I was honestly appalled at the thought of selling of your kids as a money investment. Now that is just taking it to far, why in the world would someone do even if their kids getting put up for adoption any way. But anyways you tied the topics of slavery and pro-life together greatly. Yes, the Pro-Life debates are very big in the media especially at this time, and I too believe it to be a symbol of freedom to choose your side. However, I'm one to stay silent and hear both sides before I intervene, don't get me wrong I'm full Pro-Life. On one hand I understand some reasons why people get abortions, while on the other I question their reasons. But I'm not going to go on for two paragraphs about Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice. I can not say anything on your ideas of slavery because they are all true. Slaves don't really get a say in any matter, back then or now. Back when it was a cultural norm every farm was worked/maintained by slaves who had no freedoms what so ever. Today however slaves are considered investments for businesses that use them till they are no longer needed then discarded like rag dolls. Great blog, Felicia. I look forward to next weeks blog.
Felicia,
DeleteThis was a great blog, and I really liked how you connected everything. I especially liked how you connected in your own beliefs about abortion and slavery so that your reader had a good grasp on what standpoint you were coming from. Defying might have a different opinion, but I liked how you claimed your stance right away. Your story about personal finance was really interesting and thought provoking, mostly because I've always hated just how complicated the adoption system is. Sometimes, a family will wait longer than six years for a child, and will continually have to pay fees before they ever get a child.
I really liked your choice of poem. I had actually been thinking about this poem, especially because it ties in so well with slavery and freedom. But when I saw the poem that I chose, I felt like I needed to post that one instead. I'm glad that "Emancipation" made it to the blog because I think everyone should have to read it. It's very powerful, and I think it was a great choice. Your opinions were really great. Good job!