The other day I was musing about how men aren’t thriving in our culture today, something no one disagrees with even if there is disagreement on why. And so my thought was that maybe we need a little patriarchy. I was thinking about how I am not terribly informed on what the patriarchy is and the problem is that finding out would involve reading some highly biased feminist tracts that interpret history through a modern, feminist lens. I was musing, as I periodically do, that we could use some thoughtful, non knee-jerk, non-feminist analysis on why we are where we are with regards to men failing; some analysis on the positive attributes of the patriarchy. (I would assume that even if you are a true-blue feminist, which I am trying not to be, you can see that there were some drawbacks to the feminist/sexual revolution.)

But this idea does not hold when we travel to places like India, where women are treated as chattel, or possessions, as this article explains. So obviously there are international variations on how the patriarchy works or does not work in different places.

If anyone has great reading sources on this general theme, feel free to send them along. I have about a hundred books on my to-read list, but I could always add a couple more.

What a front cover, what a story. What good news! I haven’t read the article, and I’m betting they bemoan the fact that the pro-choice side is losing. Over here at ProWomanProLife, we celebrate this kind of thing. Everyone go and grab your favourite beverage and savour the fact that they even printed this as a cover story. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. Go now and celebrate!

There is a little bit of the miraculous in every baby’s birth. I do think that every baby (whether they live to see daylight or not) is a miracle. Stories like this help remind us of that. Part of the miracle of new people being created and born is that it is unseen, hidden away in the womb. So when we catch a glimpse–when something that is generally unseen is seen–it is all the more special.

Actually, I like skating. But no more skating around the issue of when life begins, says a piece in The Toronto Star. Of all places!

Feminists all over the globe, apparently, can’t stand to see pro-life groups be awarded for helping women. The Israeli anti-abortion group Efrat has the temerity to help women who are ambivalent about abortion to have their children by offering money and support. Apparently, some find this offensive and will be protesting the award.Meanwhile, Efrat as an organization was an early inspiration for this website.

I have no clue what the significance of the Jerusalem Prize is, but I’m glad that the organizers are not backing down:

In a statement on the website of Arutz 7, which own B’Sheva, B’Sheva director David (Dudu) Sa’ada said the organization would not back down despiter pressure.“We found it especially necessary to award them the prize this year because of the unfair opposition from the public and media over the past year,” he said.

Happy New Year!! A prayer for new beginnings:

I’ve destroyed, I’ve created;
I’ve been with people, I’ve been lonely;
I’ve been loyal, I’ve betrayed;
I’ve decided, I’ve waffled;
I’ve laughed and I’ve cried.
You know my frail heart and my frayed history ~
and now another day begins!

It’s Christmas day and I hope you are all enjoying some good family time. Blogging between now and New Year’s will be light. I will leave you with my favourite Muppet Christmas song for now.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt_9ZzMmrtE]

This short letter uses up the word count to make very few logical or effective points in response to Mike Schoutten’s piece about abortion and infanticide. What a shame that those who defend abortion really only have euphemisms like “abortion care” to rely on. But she’s probably a provider, so we can understand why she must bury herself in euphemisms in order to keep on doing abortions instead of actually helping women. (I’m sorry if that sounds bitter or angry, but I don’t have a lot of time for these “women’s advocates.”)

I must admit, these beautiful stories just about do the trick for me. And I’m confident there are many more such stories, just not captured on film or written up online.

I am not a fan of using the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut to advocate for the unborn. I have seen this happen on Twitter. I am not in favour of connecting the Newtown event with abortion because I believe these are fundamentally different issues and I believe that in this period directly following the horrible massacre, those families who lost loved ones should be allowed to mourn free from the interference of activists of all kinds–be it those who want gun control or those who want pro-life laws.

However, this video makes a powerful point about what it means to be pro-life in a broader sense. Pro-lifers believe in protecting all children, and we believe that when we fail to do so as a society, we have all failed. There are no prescriptions made in the video and there is no condemnation of those who are not pro-life. It is a simple statement of why I am pro-life: because when we fail to protect children, we have generally failed in our culture and our society.

We are failing in many ways, these days.

I therefore appreciate this video.