In the Paper

It’s not been uncommon for me to have my name in the paper.

Community

I love people and I strongly believe that we have a mandate to love our neighbors. …all of our neighbors, the ones we can see and the ones we cannot see.

That’s why I have been a human rights activist for most of my adult life. The smallest and most vulnerable humans are being targeted at a rate of astonishing proportions. Planned Parenthood alone, has committed about a million abortions per year. During my tenure as a trustee of New Hampshire Right to Life, we worked hard to let the public know about their mission to destroy babies and hurt their families: ultimately a causing societal shift of callousness.

It was important to me in the early days to be in the paper. Newspapers and television were the way we got information. The internet and email were just gaining a foothold then. I even created my own newsletters.

Ya, really old-school. Now, anyone can publish anything. To be in the paper isn’t rare, but with social media, it means something different. It’s not self publishing, like social media. It means someone else thought what was said is important for others to know.

Activism

Activism is noteworthy, whether good or bad. If we are not active, we are not loving our neighbor. That doesn’t mean I think everyone should be protesting something or holding signs or writing and calling lawmakers and policy influencers all the time, but it does mean being active in your gifts and duty.

We have a duty to our fellow humans. This is important. There is too much abuse out there. Child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and abortion are some ways that people are hurt and we can stand against those. Our basic human rights are at risk all the time, not just from abusive people, but by well-meaning misguided ones too. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the basis of the Bill of Rights and important in the framing or our entire Constitution.

Many of us have had jobs or businesses that keep us very busy. We all go through ages and stages, have an ebb and flow to life, seasons of growth and flux, but there are some things that we can do regardless of the demands on our time.

Stay abreast of local, regional, and state policy and let your leaders know where you and your family stand. This is so hard in New Hampshire, I would think anywhere really, but we have so many people making policy and laws here, it can be very overwhelming. So, connect with advocacy groups that you know are protecting your human rights and those of your community.

Vote

We have a great system here, because we can vote for people to represent us in the State House of Representatives and in the Senate and the nationally, in the USA.

We vote with our wallets too. What you buy and the activities you participate in do matter. The money you and I spend makes ripples in the economy and drives policy for those businesses.

Vote with your time. What are you doing with the time you have? Service and sacrifice is a lost art. With devices in our hands so often we are scrolling instead of strolling. Social media and the massive amount of information we can sit and consume will never, ever be satisfied. It will never satisfy either. Going for a walk and refreshing your mind and body can help bring perspective. Getting away from negative or snippet thinking that the internet so often pushes can open our minds to remember those around us who need our attention.

Visit with friends, family, or someone who needs a friend and has no family. If you are in a stage of life that is so busy with babies or work or school, just being kind to the clerk at the store is a way to love your neighbor. We don’t all need to be activists all the time. There will be times in our lives that require making ends meet, but there is always time for kindness.

Give

Give yourself room to grow and learn and give others that same grace. No one is ever going to be perfect to anyone else. Well, except when you first fall in love maybe, but we are all annoying after a while. Give yourself and those around you the room to make mistakes and say the wrong things and shrug. Sometimes, we just need to give a good shrug to the things that could offend us.

Giving from a grateful heart brings joy to the giver. If you have resources, give to a group who is doing the kind of work that you would do if you could. For me, I give to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, anti-human trafficking work, and individuals. It may be money or time or information. I work with a few organizations that tangibly love human beings.

Be

You and I are human beings, not human doings. Be who you are. Love yourself and love your neighbors.

It’s not easy to be ourselves. Some people have called me heroic because I was in the paper. All I did was tell the story of some of my life experience. It isn’t easy to do, but hardly heroic. There are a good many people doing all that I’ve written here and much more: putting their lives on the line for other people. The real heroes are all around us, being themselves.

Be who you are designed to be and always love one another, seen and unseen.

Here is the story in the paper. The goal is to get people interested in Brigid’s House of Hope. It will be a home for women who have been trafficked for the purposes of prostitution, here in New Hampshire.