This just STICKS in my craw.

I’ve been sitting on my fingers the whole day, but I can’t do it anymore. (For one thing, stopping circulation may be bad for the baby and me.)

This morning while going through my blog reader, an article at Inside Catholic caught my eye — about 17 pregnant girls in Gloucester, MA. The article references another Time article which I then read. I was already seething by the time I got done but tried to focus on the day’s activities instead. Tonight with the family gone doing outside activities I turned the TV on — a once-in-a-blue-moon event here — and argh. It’s the first item on tonight’s news. Is there no escape? What I don’t get at all are the following:

. No one is questioning these girls’ psychological, mental, spiritual health at all. There were several women interviewed (none of them known to me) and one woman attributes the growing trend of teen pregnancy to the apparent new “coolness” of maternity apparel . WHAT?

. One girl chants, “Birth control, birth control, birth control.” Does anyone really think THAT’S the solution?

. The news report ends by saying that the “predominantly Catholic” town is now rethinking its position on birth control but that people are not happy about it. But they just leave it hanging there. Isn’t there a reporter out there who wants to get to the BOTTOM of this?

. Isn’t anyone puzzled that this is happening in a supposedly “fiercely Catholic” (Time) town? How “fiercely Catholic” would this town be if 17 girls are pregnant because they want unconditional love? Unconditional love is something that you get in a family, and if any family is truly “fiercely Catholic” you should be able to bet it’s there. Time DOES NOT even have a clue what fiercely Catholic means.

. As usual, it’s another indirect diss at the Church and Catholics. “You’re Catholic but look at the problems you’re having.” “If you condoned/taught birth control this wouldn’t be happening.” And yes, I WILL go there: I bet some people are saying, “This is what you get by teaching the pro-life message.” Uh-huh, because of course, EVERYONE understands what being pro-life really means.

. They mention that several of the teens are pregnant by a 24-year old homeless man and the sentence was delivered so matter-of-factly, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. What is going on here??? No one even talks about STDs and the dangers of premarital sex. No one talks about putting this guy in jail!!

. People talk about Hollywood’s influence and the recent movie offerings glorifying teen pregnancy. But they conveniently forget that this problem isn’t caused by one factor alone.

. The Time article says no one has come up with better options. What about chastity or abstinence (and no, they don’t mean the same thing)? Aren’t these at least two of the obvious options here? It’s like this huge elephant in the room and NO ONE wants to acknowledge or discuss it.

. As usual, the common sense teachings of the Church are totally ignored.

I think I’ll go back to sitting on my fingers (lightly). After I duct tape my mouth.

Update: I found ONE article with comments that mentions abstinence education (take note, not CHASTITY education, big difference there). And the voices of the ones advocating abstinence education are immediately drowned out by those saying that abstinence education did not work, does not work, and will not work. I have no idea where they’re getting their stats. Why in the world are people so quick to dismiss the solutions that are right under our noses?

I think the problem is that the solution calls for US PARENTS to get off our butts and do something about this. And frankly, too many of us are not willing to do that. We’d rather have someone do the talking and the teaching for us. We’ve buried our heads in the sand and think that if we continue to do so, our kids are going to be miraculously spared. This is why I don’t understand those that say we shouldn’t be “imposing” our beliefs on our children. Well, guess what, if we’re always going to be so afraid about speaking to our children about the important stuff, because we’re so afraid we might influence them unnecessarily, SOMEONE or SOMETHING WILL influence them — the media, books, friends, etc. And it’s still unbelievable to me just how many parents these days are willing to take that risk.

Our children are not going to be perfect. They ARE going to make mistakes. They might make MAJOR mistakes with their lives. But I’d rather not have my child, 5, 10 years from now, look me in the eye, and say, “Mom, why did you not tell me…?”

And a friend just forwarded me this video, which is related, so…

Blind Society + Twisted Reasoning = ???