widowmaker makes no widows

There's a tree in our backyard that's been leaning dead for as long as I can remember. It's rotted so there's about an inch or two between the wood and the bark, which slides off like a sleeve. My dad wanted it taken down, so he called some of his friends over--this was several years ago--and Mr. Gallagher called it a widowmaker and wouldn't touch it. The tree has survived windstorms, tornadoes, heavy snow, lightning storms, animals, children, and all sorts of things that should have toppled it.

But not last week's windstorm.

Instead of mostly vertical and leaning against a healthy green tree, it's mostly horizontal and lying next to that healthy green tree. So now we have two trees to clean up and tons more firewood, although it's all either rotten or green.

I wish my camera could see what I see. This is what my camera saw:

nine-year-old's twins aborted

I've read or skimmed a zillion different takes on this story. It sounds like a Brazilian man sexually abused his stepdaughter for three years, and when she was nine she became pregnant with his twins, which were aborted. Following this, there was great confusion about excommunication.

As I understand it, there's a latae sententiae for abortion or assisting with an abortion--this means if you do it, you're automatically excommunicated.

Time for a lesson on excommunication.

Few church leaders like the idea of being dropped in the sea with a millstone around their necks (cf Mt. 18:6), and they realize how important it is to teach correctly.

An excommunication essentially says "Do not listen to this person and think that's what the Catholic Church teaches." It does not send you to hell--no mere human, not even the pope, has the authority or power to do such a think. It is not permanent--with proper repentence, you can again become part of the Church.

Most of teaching is by example, and when there is a particularly bad example, it's important to let people know that this is not what the church teaches.

So if you have an abortion or help someone get an abortion, you are automatically no longer a part of the church.

Now, let's look at the situation.

It is morally wrong to rape your 9-year-old stepdaughter. In the first place, the situation shouldn't have even come about (that's gignomai for you deponent Greeks).

But it did. In Brazil, the articles say, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger. The girl was definitely raped, and the abortion was legal. But was her life in danger?

I was unimpressed with Time magazine. The article reads:

The case has caused a furor. Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger, both of which apply in this case. (The girl's immature hips would have made labor dangerous; the Catholic opinion was that she could have had a cesarean section.)

The reporter assumes that the girl's life is in danger but does not tell the reader where the information came from. Did the reporter talk to a doctor? Then he writes what the "Catholic opinion" was, again without a source. Did he talk to a doctor and find out if a c-section might be possible?

I don't remember reading a doctor's voice on the c-section possibility in any of the articles I read, just what church leaders said. I'm sure these church leaders are wonderful men and intelligent theologians, but they are theologians, not physicians. I want to know what a physician has to say, and so far, no one has told me.

So what's the morally right thing to do?

Abortion is wrong, and this abortion was wrong, even if the girl's life was at stake. But I don't think she's culpable.

First: We don't know for sure that she would have died. It's not okay to kill two people because you're almost entirely sure it will save the life of another person.

Second: Love is willing to give its life for another (John 15:13). It would have taken a tremendous amount of courage and heroism to do this, though--can we expect this from an abused 9-year-old?

Third: I don't think she's culpable. I don't think it's right to "blame her" because she can't have had a mature understanding of what was going on.

Still waiting on that physician.

hypothesis about women

"Have you ever had a woman lecture you about privacy?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, and I wasn't surprised but I was disappointed because I wanted to give it to him.

Here's my current hypothesis:

Women have layers of privacy. You can toe the line at the first layer, and we might let you in. Then you can toe the line at the second layer. But you definitely may not barge in past where you're allowed. You may not toe the line at the fourth layer unless you've been allowed into the third layer. When you reach the point where we won't let you in, you stay out.

We feel horribly betrayed and violated when lines are crossed without our permission.

I think this is how we work.

So what does that mean? Umm...

Well first off, this explains why rape is such a horrible crime. It's barging all the way to the center without being allowed in at all.

But this doesn't just apply to sex or sexual things.

When I was pranked, I felt that same betrayed/violated feeling, but it wasn't very strong and I knew I deserved it anyway. But my roommate got really upset, even though it was my side of the closet that was emptied, not hers.

But he got into our room without permission. I had let him into that layer; she hadn't.

I think that's how it works...

it doesn't go there!

Right before lunch I went to the bathroom and before I unbuttoned my jeans, my pen flipped out of my pocket and landed in the toilet. I wasn't sure what to do but I had to act before it sank, so I grabbed some toilet paper, reached in, launched it out and let it drop on the floor. About then I realized the superfluity of the toilet paper.

I went down to lunch and my ID card wasn't in my pocket. I went back to my room to look for it but couldn't find it--but picked up the check I had to cash--and came back up just as the 11:50 lunch rush was starting. I got a note from the desk and waited in line.

Finally, we approached the door to Saga. I felt something in the back of my pants suppressed a sheepish smile. I knew where my ID card was. I had somehow flipped it out of my back pocket--my pockets are small and it often falls out when I use the bathroom--and flipped it into my pants while in the bathroom.

I cleared my dishes from the table but didn't feel anything in my pants. Had it fallen to my knees? Perhaps. I left the cafeteria and returned to the bathroom.

I locked the door and checked everywhere, but with no luck. The card must have fallen out my ankle. It must be lying on the floor somewhere in Saga.

I asked Steve when I went to dinner, but he hadn't seen it.

The check is still in my pocket.

how to love

The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
G. K. Chesterton

The most important thing is to love God.

The next most important thing is to love people.

Love people because we are all made in the image and likeness of God, because we all have the same core human dignity, because we're all in this together.

Love those behind you, but love, too, those in front of you.

Though I command languages both human and angelic--if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.

And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains--if I am without love, I am nothing.

Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned--if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love, for God so loved. And how ought we love?

Love is always patient and kind.

Love is never jealous.

Love is not boastful or conceited.

It is never rude and never seeks its own advantage.

It does not take offense or store up grievances.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always endures whatever comes.

Love never comes to an end.

If love never comes to an end, then love, in this fallen world, must forgive. Love knows that the person is more important than the pride invested in the disagreement.

As it is, these remain: faith, hope, and love, the three of them.

And the greatest of them is love.

and yet, O Mole, I am afraid

fail

"Mary, you're such a woman," he said, and I apologized.