[Cheryl62]

I respect your feelings about the power of life. I share them. I hope your feelings also include the wrongness of capital punishment, since to me taking a life is always wrong -- but that's my own personal moral belief.

I can tell you some things about the developing world if you're interested, truly. Living in one of the poorest countries in the world has fundamentally changed my views about so many things. Living in South Asia, I see the damage that religious strife causes (slaughter between Hindus and Muslims for instance), the damage to people's lives caused by imposing religious beliefs that we "westerners" may not agree with (Sharia law, for instance, condoning stoning of adulterers, including women who have just given birth out of wedlock, or honor killings of sisters, etc.).

I also see so many mothers and babies die, because in the Hindu country where I live, having a son to conduct your death rites means everything-- women will deliver 10-12 babies, or which 3-4 survive, trying for that boy that lives. The women die, the babies die, and those that survive are malnourished and stunted. It makes me want to weep. So many die here from just lack of clean water, and very, very basic medical care. The parents just can't afford it -- and when they have 4-5 kids (or 10-12, which I see way too often!), they can afford it even less. They can't afford birth control either, and that's if it's even available. And, it's totally the man's choice anyway. And to make it worse, I get US government aid workers coming through for quick visits saying they're really not sure about the US promoting condom use here -- jeesh. This in a country where mothers see their children die far, far too often, and an AIDS epidemic is looking increasingly severe.

All those choices and policies that seem so right and absolute when you live in the US in a family background, like mine, that provides you with an education and opportunities to make choices for yourself that you (and your child) can live with, somehow just aren't as clear from here.

Sorry to run on -- my heart just hurts today... I spent all evening learning about some Kalaa Azaar patients here that will certainly die without $10 each worth of drugs -- many of them kids. There are thousands of them in this one tiny country, and there's not much I can do. That doesn't count all the dysentery, malaria, tuberculosis, and so many other things that just wipe out these kids. And the poorer they are, and the more kids the parents have, the less chance any of them will be healthy or educated, and so the cycle continues. Usually I can soldier on - today I want to weep.

Sorry,
Cheryl