Writing a weekly blog/column or whatever you want to call it each and every week requires one to be on the constant lookout for new materials at all times.
If this were a humor column, I would have to find something to poke fun at each and every week. But this what is called a ‘social commentary’ type column which means I am making comments about various social issues or quirks I perceive in the world around us.
The majority of my time is to throw some subject out there that causes folks to sit back and ponder what I have written and then respond to my comments one way or another.
Last week I wrote a column and it was apparent that many of those who were incensed and wrote criticisms did not read the entire column to see what my intent and purpose was.
It is really difficult in the space of about 750-800 words to fully explain what you mean to say and you ask yourself if you hurt or helped people.
I wrote a weekly column for about 100 newspapers a week for over 25 years and I can tell you, in that time period I was the recipient of a number of negative as well as positive comments and or reviews….thankfully the positive ones vastly out numbered the negative ones. But I tried to learn from my mistakes and look at things from the readers point of view.
A lot of my missives are asking why does one thing or another happen. I am seeking information from people like you that might have an opinion and could perhaps enlighten me.
The title of the week is simply…. “Women of the world…Unite!!!!”
And here is my question:
We recently learned that the men in Afghanistan (now that the US is gone) have returned to their former ways and habits of buying or selling female children as young as 4 or 5 to be ‘wives’ to older men.
Several of the comments I read make the statement that ‘this is nothing new and has been going on for centuries. We read reports last week of fathers selling their daughters so they could afford to buy food for the rest of the family. I hesitate to think about what this does to the mind of a young female.
But my question is this….if this is true and I for one find this offensive, do others agree with me that this is wrong and should be condemned or do we just accept this and go on about our business?
We have any number of very active organizations dedicated to helping preserve the rights for women.
But my question here is simply to ask if they are actively approving or condoning this type of practice. I use the term ‘practice’ since I may consider this to be an abuse of a child, but others may disagree with me. It seems to me that if we do nothing to stop activity such as this from continuing, then we become complicit and part of the problem.
Would you like this to be your child or any member of your family?
I think not.
I also do not see these various organizations involved in helping stem sex trafficking or stopping women from being abused in the pornography industry.
Am I so far removed from various parts of our society that I am unaware of the activities and progress (if any) on their part?
If they choose not to be actively verbally and visually seeking improvement in these areas, why is that?
Our cities are being overrun with sex trafficking and porno operations.
Having been a cop in Houston for a number of years, I have seen first hand what happens to young women who get into prostitution and drugs. It has seldom turned out to be a happy ending.
All I know is that I have a limited voice (you may like it that way) but I do think there are solutions to each and every problem if we just take the time to look at them with open minds and earnestly see what these might be.
And be willing to be vocal and active in any manner that is possible for each of us.
Thank you for reading this….
Comments both pro and con are welcomed…..
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