Monday, October 16, 2006

I gotta go........

Many of you that have been reading this blog for a while have read my references to my past volunteer work. What you may not know is why I stopped volunteering except for some Church activities. Several years ago when I moved from Dallas to Houston I was burned out. So I simply stopped volunteering when we moved.

Many years ago while counseling at a crisis pregnant center, after giving a mother and a 16 yr old daughter all the information I could to help the 16 yr old have her baby, the mother walked out to take her daughter for an abortion. During the discussion we had, her daughter never said a word. Not one word. Trust me when I say there was no choice involved here. Another women aborted her twins because they were not her husband’s. We even offered to adopt, we almost had her convinced, but she aborted them. Sometimes, when I think of those children who were never allowed to be, my heart hurts as if I had lost my own.

Once, while volunteering for health and human services, when I went to pick up 5 children to babysit at my house while their mother had surgery, I walked into a house so filthy I wouldn’t have let my dog live there, much less children.

When I served meals on wheels I found that most of the elderly poor’s problem was not being poor, but in having children who didn’t care enough for their parents to fix lunches and fill their refrigerators with food for the week. It was simply easier to let someone else do it.

In helping at a soup kitchen I discovered that drugs hold more people prisoner than any prison in our country.

I have watched a young teenager kiss her baby goodbye as she gives it to parents who can give it the kind of life it deserves. A great and noble sacrifice to be sure, but one that is difficult to watch.

I found that nursing homes are the loniest places on earth. But it was there I felt closest to God. It seemed to me that at the beginning of life and then at the very end, we have forgotten what the value of life really means.

These were just a few experiences that brought me down, but what I forgot was that for every negative experience there were dozens of wonderful life giving and fulfilling experiences.

Politics isn’t like that. There are no life giving moments. The more I know about it the more I am astounded that we have anyone of character or substance in office. Left or right. Why would anyone who has a good life want to be in office? It’s too mean, too easliy corrupted, and sometimes truth doesn’t matter. My father refused to run for Governor so many years ago. Now I understand why.

When I discovered blogging it was a way to share my political views and my faith. I never had a tip jar or asked for money because just you reading me and giving me a voice was all I needed to write.

But after the Houston Chronicle asked me to blog and then Michelle Malkin asked me to video blog at HotAir, I realized that this blog had become more about me than about what was important to me.

The times in my life when I have been the happiest have been when things were about others and not about me.

So I have to go.

I know this is abrupt and I apologize for that.

But there is a world of need out there and I need to get back to it.

God bless all of you .