Reading....A Choice!

So what are those leadership group women up to now? A book club!

And maybe this is not a big deal to you.....but remember there is a lot of people that don't even know what a book club is or have ever been a part of a book club. So you have leadership group women surfing our library and taking out books such as: Awareness by Anthony De Mello or Beyond Fear......and they are choosing to do this. I didn't tell it was a requirement to read motivating books. They are making the choice to empower themselves. This made me think about a few of my favorites: The Four Agreements and The Seat of the Soul. Also another book in my sight is: When Work Disappears...The World of the New Urban Poor. (this should be a good read)

But more importantly this step of starting a book club is about developing some social connections with other circles.....stepping outside their bubble.s...their neighborhoods....their world....their fears....to do something different with their lives. A good book to read on this is called: Bowling Alone....which talks about society's decline in social connectedness and how the less we have the worst off we are. For example....we all know that in a majority of the cases it is about who you know and being in the right place at the right time to land employment. If we don't have any outside circles....or don't have a broader social circle....our opportunities across the board are limited.

So back to the girls.......they are developing their social connectedness....expanding their networking circles.....stepping outside of their neighborhoods.....facing the unknown and participating on a level they never thought possible. Coming to CAF for financial assistance yet getting some real honest and loving support is allowing them to take some steps forward.

I don't take all this lightly. In fact, when I checked the blog today and saw Brittany's post at 10:30pm last night I cried. This young woman works two jobs to take care of her 3 little girls (and they are just adorable!) and pay her rent....and then come home and blog? Or what about the young woman that cooks on a hot plate but comes to the office to blog? Or what about another leadership group member that struggles with her own internal issues of self-worth but turns around and blogs? If these stories don't touch your heart I don't know what will.

All I can say is that I am forever transformed by the lives of the women we serve. They make me a better person....and now they are making me read much more. But like they say...reading is fundamental....and a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

SPEAK NOW OR BE FOREVER SILENCED

If only people would stop judging the leadership and what we're about and actually take the time to see what we're doing. They would be amazed because what we do is just that. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do this with the hope that one day my people, my generation, my children's generation, will continue this fight against and overcome those who wish to keep us oppressed and silent. Always, always remember: YOU have a voice, YOU have a choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Peace:)

Why?

I just wanted to take the time out to ask why? Why are people so blind? Not physically but mentally. Sometimes we as people are so caught up in what is right and what is wrong that we are blind sighted to real issues. I am so tired of people saying, Oh I'm a Pro- Lifer and Pro-choice is wrong like I don't believe in life. But the fact is I do believe in life, I actually even have a daughter. But the one thing I don't believe in is some one else deciding what you do with your body. Have you ever seen the marijuana commercial where the guy is standing center of the room and all these other people are coming up to him changing his clothes; cutting his hair and at the end it says when you give up the right to choose you give up being a person. The moral of the commercial is to prevent kids from smoking marijuana because of peer pressure. Well it's the same thing with abortion. If you don't have the right to choose you might as well not own your body. And I quote Enjouli when she said to me today what about that woman that has been raped or molested and the result is she gets pregnant. Now not only does she have to deal with the fact that she was raped or molested. But if she can't get an abortion and has to have the baby now she has tolook at a spitting image of the man who raped her for the rest of her life. And what if she is low income and never planned on having kids, now she has to deal with raisng a kid that she could never really afford and in those cases choice is valid.Something my mom always told me is life is about choices and some people make the right one and some people make wrong ones, We all try to make the best ones but at the end of the day to each it's own.Love Peace and Choice!

Thanks Nicole....

She is absolutely right, the conversation of condoms in classrooms is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed. I believe that condoms should be introduced to children when they reach puberty. Many may say this encourages sex,...Well at this point school is the only arena not promoting sex. So if school is the source of empowerment and education, why not sex education, in a world where sex is our primary function....(it's kinda like blind folding someone & telling them to find their way)...To the parents, sex is used to target everything, including your children. Introducing 6,7,& 8th graders to condoms doesn't mean that they will have sex, it means that we understand & acknowledge that we live in a world that is not free from disease. I don't condone kids having sex, but lets be real, it happens..... There's a lot of things I feel we should shelter our kids from, but we can't be with them all day, every second. If my 7 th grade cousin can listen to his teacher talk about how we are literally killing hundreds in Iraq, then he can be informed about sexual protection. Some may say both these issues are before his time, but that's the world they live in, the world WE created....(protect them from not being protected!) PEACE