Just My 25 Cents Worth....

Today, the news story du jour, besides Hurricane Gustav, is the fact that the 17-year-old daughter of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain's VP pick, is pregnant (and unmarried). Reading some of the comments made on the story, I'm burning with shame that I live among people who, in 21st Century America, would stoop to make such disparaging remarks about a wonderful, accomplished, no nonsense American woman. "She should go home and tend to her own family." "What wonderful family values she has ~ not!" "What a horrible example this is for all our teenage girls in America." Excuse me! Exactly what plant have they been smoking? Please someone tell me how you control the actions of a 17-year-old 24 hours a day? I can tell you I was not a perfect child (nor were my parents perfect), but I have only myself to blame for the bad decisions I made. I made decisions that broke the heart of my mom, who prayed for me every day (and still does, by the way). Does that mean she was a horrible mother? Not by a long shot. I have a 22-year-old and a 19-year-old who make bad decisions (some very costly) and yet I know they were raised to know and do better. Am I to blame for that? I think not. Do I love them less? No! Remember the saying, "There but for the grace of God go I..."

***Intemperate thought.....imagine if Senator McCain's VP pick had been a man and this situation had come up? Would people be saying he needed to go home and take care of his family first? Just thought I would throw that out there. The hypocrisy of those comments is stunning....

In a country where more than 40 million babies have been sacrificed on the altar of convenience, it IS refreshing to see a young woman make a very courageous decision when she could have so easily taken the easy way out (and would have then been applauded by the very people who are so "shocked" and "scandalized" by her behavior). She is going to, "gasp", marry the father of her child. It will be very difficult to be a mother at that age, but she is surrounded by loving parents and extended family who support her decision. Do we want our children to be in situations like this? No. Do we want them to have to grow up faster than they already are? No. But in an age where our Hollywood idols download children at a whim without a thought to marrying the father, it is wonderful to see that these young people own up to making a bad decision and then taking responsibility for their actions and providing their baby (who is NOT A MISTAKE) a mother and a father. I would much rather have her as a role model for my children (someone who takes responsibility for her actions), than those selfish, vapid, self-absorbed Hollywood and pop culture icons who make a mockery of marriage and parenthood.

I wish Governor Palin and her family all the best. I will remember her family in my prayers. I just ask the Lord to give them an extra measure of grace and fortitude for the difficult two months ahead of them.

Stepping off my soap box.....