The Mortal Sin of Peculiar

So after tomorrow we should know who is going to get the Democratic Nomination....or not! Lord I am so tired of this. I am normally fiercely vocal about presidential elections but this slug fest between Cliton and O'bama has worn me out! I don't even give a crap anymore. Which is a horrible feeling to have during what very well could be the most historic election in the history of the United States. But at this point I fear John McCain is going to sweep up the shattered mess of the Democratic Party these two have created and toss it in the can!

Then there's the YFZ Ranch thing, that just bothers me more and more. I am a staunch believer in civil rights, religious freedom, and the basic live and let live philosophy! A modern day hippie I suppose. And you know, for as strange as this whole community seems to us normal people, they can't all be bad....And they ALL had their children ripped away from them. I got to thinking last night, I live in a very tight knit rural Catholic community. My closest neighbor is a half mile up the road, but for the span of about a 20 mile radius, there are hundreds of families in my church parish. For 100's of years this community has been a little bit closed off, mostly because of religious persecution several generations ago. Our community used to be very self sufficient, with it's own school, grocery store, post office, grain mill and tavern. People didn't stray from their community much, because we are surrounded by communities of staunch Baptist families and various other Protestant flavors (for lack of a better term) that loathe the Catholic faith. They fear it, they don't understand it, they feel it is evil, even to this day. My mother, was horrified when I converted to Catholicism and absolutely insisted that when I had children I would teach them the truth. The ironic fact about all this, is that we all believe the same truth...Christ is the Son of God who died for our Salvation. Is there really any reason to quarrel over the traditions and minor details? Isn't our one common belief the most important one?

Anyhoo I was thinking as I laid in bed last night, about my little community. My church family. The individual people in the individual households and all the dirty little secrets we all have. There are wife beaters, child molesters, alcoholics, adulterers, drug addicts, thieves and swindlers....just as in any community. And our particular religion has been under a massive spotlight from the Priest Sex Scandal....however I assure you that in any community, any religion, any church and any neighborhood, these same grievous sins are found. But that does not make our entire community guilty. That does not make every Catholic Priest a monster. The community should not suffer for the sins of a few.

So my point. If I know for a fact that one of my neighbors used to be on a sex offender list....I know for a fact that people I share a church pew with on occasion, have stolen thousands of dollars from their families, business partners, friends and even our church. I know that some of the people I sit next to have had an affair with someone sitting in the pew in front of us. I know that some of the men I sit with have raised their fists to their wives. I suspect these same men have probably done the same to their children or at the least their children live in fear of threatened violence........

Are these people bad people, or people who have done bad things? Yes.

Does my attending church with them, tending to the same Parish, supporting the same community and being neighborly make me guilty of their crimes. NO.

What if the government decided to march into our little community here, a family oriented community, that has been known to shun outsiders, simply from generations of living in fear for being judged for our lifestyle. (this practice has been significantly watered down through the generations...but the old timers still look twice at an unfamiliar vehicle driving by..) What if the government took the sins of a few and punished us all??

Do we know for a fact that ALL the families on this compound believed that child brides were acceptable? Do we know for a fact that ALL the husbands on this compound were abusive controlling monsters who kept their families in line with fear of violence? Do we know that?? They can't all be horrible. And as mother it just eats on me more and more that every child was stolen from their mother's arms for what could amount to the sins of a few. And the sin of being different.

I don't know, I am just starting to feel very strongly that this is a horrible mistake. Sorry my blog has not been very humorous lately. But there's not much funny about this whole situation and it what has been on my mind.