I am tired of being judged as a Christian, conservative, female, American. People assume that my beliefs fill me with hate for anyone who does not fit into the conventional mold. They think that I believe everyone should live a white picket lifestyle and if they don't they should be punished.
They believe that my anti-abortion stance comes from a belief that women should not have choices and rights to their body. They think it comes from a place of anger or hate fueled by religion. This could not be further from the truth. In reality, my pro-life stance come from a place of love and compassion. I am passionate about protecting the lives of infants. If I thought that abortion was only a choice that affected the mother, then sure, I would be pro-abortion. Wether I agree with that choice or not. Just like I do not believe in breast implants, but I do not condemn someone who wants them or has gotten them. That is your choice. However, when your choice is affecting another life, I feel as though I must step in. I need to speak up for these infants because they cannot speak up for themselves. I will passionately protect them, even if I will be judged for it. I am standing up for those who do not have a voice, and I did not realize that I could be accused of hatred for this.
As for LGBT rights, I do not necessarily agree with the lifestyle. However, no sin is greater than any other and I am in no position to condemn anyone for these actions. It is God’s place to judge and not my own and I will love you no matter what choices you make. If you want to get married, and can find a priest/pastor/whoever who will marry you, then by all means go ahead. It is God’s decision to honor that marriage or not. I believe that you can love each other just as deeply and as fully as anyone else. Therefore, you have just as much right to marry as anyone else. It is not a choice I would personally make, but it is not up to me to judge your love. Once again, I love you and I hope you do not get judged by God for it. I love you so much that I just want what is best for you. Though I think I know what that might be, I do not know for certain. Therefore, you can make your own choices with your own beliefs and I will honor that and love you no matter what.
To those who think that I am a racist, and that I hate those of other cultures and skin colors, I beg you to listen to what I am saying. I love you no matter what color your skin is. You should be allowed to feel smart, beautiful, courageous, or whatever you want to be. No one has the right to make you feel any way that you do not want to. With that being said, you need to respect yourselves also. It breaks my heart to see so many minorities falling to drugs, gangs, and poverty. However, I do not believe that giving you more (welfare, food stamps, medicaid etc.) is going to help your situations. I just think of the old saying that you can give a man a fish or you can teach him how to catch one. You need to learn how to catch fish. I am not saying that this is your fault for being of a certain race, or that all people of that race fall into these categories. Of course that is not true. I am saying that statistically more people of color are in poverty and use these federal programs, and that is heartbreaking. If these federal programs actually worked to bring you out of poverty, and make you less dependent, than this should not be the dire truth in this country anymore. So, I think we need to try new solutions. We cannot continue to try the same things over and over and expect a different result. This is why I believe in work programs instead of welfare, that will give you marketable skills and allow you to learn different ways of providing for yourself and your families. I believe in defunding these programs to make room for new ideas, and you have to be willing to try. It is a tough love approach. I know if it were me and the government was paying a good portion of my bills, I would not suddenly want to work harder for the same things. Just like when I was a teenager and my parents told me to get a part time job to pay for things I was used to getting for free. However, I am glad now that they did this. I learned a lot and it gave me the skill set that I needed to succeed. So I repeat. I do not want to take away these programs to hurt you, and so that you starve or end up on the streets. I do not hate you for your skin color or think that you are just lazy. I think that sometimes everyone needs a little tough love, and I love you so much that I want to see you succeed and thrive. Call me a racist if you wish, but I know in my heart that it is not true, and I will continue to tell you that I love you.
I also believe in coming up with common sense immigration laws. It is impossible for our economy to grow and for our own citizens to be pulled up from poverty, if there are illegal immigrants coming into our country, sending money out of our country, taking jobs where legal citizens cannot possibly compete with the low pay, and using federal programs without paying any taxes. This does not mean that I hate people from Mexico/Canada/any other country you may be coming from. In fact I think we need a better system to help you come here legally, so that you can fully enjoy all of the wonderful things this country has to offer you. However, that will not happen by letting you stay living under the radar. Furthermore, I would be lying if I didn’t think that a large number (not all!) of illegal immigrants from Mexico were not contributing to a large criminal and drug problem in this country. I cannot allow you to come here and continue to hurt those that I care about. I have known far too many people who have died from Heroin overdoses, which is becoming a larger and larger problem. The fact is, most heroin is brought in illegally from Mexico. You cannot expect me to allow my friends to keep dying so that you can make easy money. I do not hate you, but I also will not let you drag this country down. You must be deported and you musn’t be allowed back. All other illegal immigrants need to be registered so that we can begin a process to legalization for you. I just want a system that works for ALL OF US. right now the system is not benefiting anyone.
Finally, I would like to discuss my stance on the war, terrorism, and refugees. Obviously, no one wants war. It is unfortunately, a sad truth in our world. Terrorism has led us into war, and there seems to be no right answers. There is this way of thinking that is dangerous that many Americans have. That is “we must be really terrible for them to hate us this much.” Now think about this, what if I was being bullied and I said that about myself? What would you say? The truth is, we never did anything to make them hate us this way. They hate us, simply for existing. They would always find a reason to hate us. Do I believe that Islam is a hateful religion? No. Do I believe that many people who are Muslim hate us? Yes. I do not know why. I just know that there is a correlation. Somewhere along the line, the religion was corrupted, by hateful people. Their hate may have started from oppression, but who is to say? Now it is often taught into the religion, and it is nearly impossible to unteach. When you are brought up from a child to believe something, than how can you reteach a new way? It would be like being told that the sky isn’t actually blue. You would not believe it, especially when surrounded by a whole group who insists that the sky is in fact blue. So what do we do? I do not know all the answers, but I do know, that as terrible as it is, we must have a strong hand. We have to stand up to the bullies. We cannot say “Oh, you’re right. I am terrible” that is only going to give them affirmation for those beliefs. Sometimes, the only way to deal with a bully is to not let yourself get pushed around. I also, do not think that we should bring refugees here. Now don’t get me wrong. I DO NOT HATE REFUGEES. I am sad for them, and how their lives have been destroyed. However, I am not going to let the bully use my compassion as a trojan horse, to come and pick on me. Instead, I believe we should set up safe zones for refugees, where we can protect them, without having to uproot them from their homeland, and without having the risk of bring the terrorists here to do the same to our country. I love all people, and I hope that over time they will let go of their hate and learn to love us back. The only way to do this is to constantly show compassion. So, in that sense we agree. However, I do not think that we do that by telling them that they are right to hate us, and I also do not think that we need to let them continue to hurt us to show that compassion.
Now, after reading all of this I hope you can come to realize that my beliefs are not rooted in hatred or racism. I also, hope that you understand that my Christian belief are what have taught me to love this way. So many think that Christianity breeds hate, but it breeds love. Just let go of what you think of us for a moment, listen, and then decide if we are truly hateful, or if maybe that is a biased view. Maybe we don’t agree, sure. I do not think that you hate babies, because you are pro-abortion, just like I wish you would think I don’t hate women because I am pro-life. Many think that because their beliefs are rooted in love, the opposition must be rooted in hatred, but that is simply not even close to true. I just see different solutions to the same problems. I love you all.
