Janet Inoue:  

Whatever personal or intellectual qualifications or gifts one may have, kindness and compassion are the most important. For a person who has traveled extensively, this is the common currency of any nationality or religion, that anyone can own and be rich!! Having said that, however, I am firmly rooted in my own culture and am proud of the gifts of Western Civilization. Back in the 1960's, no one would have dreamed that the actual foundations of the life and freedoms we hold dear in the West would be rattled and undermined as they are now. But the same attacks on religion and morality were rife in the 1930's in Germany. Protection of the weak is a legacy of Judeo-Christian values, that ironically are being swept away by bogus "compassionate" liberality. I had to go around the full circle in my life to come back at the starting point, to find that the Church was and is right in its stubborn adherence to now unpopular traditional definitions of family. This important nucleus of society has practically always been under special assault by totalitarian ideologies. Liberalism is no different in intention and also in the aggressive manner its ideas are propagated. Anyone who tries or who has tried to raise a decent family these days should be commended. Who would have imagined back then the in-your-face sexuality in so-called "pride" marches, but you have to watch what you say in the 21st century if it is about Jesus or God, otherwise you may "offend" someone and reap a lawsuit. I think it outrageous that Christian symbols were taken down or hidden in Notre Dame University when the pro-abortion President Obama got a honorarium there. How did all this come about? How did we end up with a Health Czarina, Sebelius, who owed her political career to the blood money of abortionist Tiller? And why am I not writing about myself, my trips, concerts, kids, house, possessions, etc., Because I believe the danger to society is much more important than myself. It affects ALL of us and is vitally important to recognize and change direction. Otherwise our children and theirs will NOT live in a free, compassionate world. Instead it will be a place where adulterers are stoned and hands will be cut off of thieves, not "You shall join Me in Paradise". One of my two sons made a comment that we can't change society, so why bother, just try to adjust and live your own life. I told him, that sure you can do that but if everything is crumbling around you like the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001 it is better to make the effort to be informed. And if enough people are concerned about the outer envelope, not only their own lives but of the overall quality of life, those who care can get together to push the forces of destruction back to the primeval slime where it came from. That's why the Church is precious. The ethic of the Roman Empire was based on power. "Love thy neighb...Expand for more