Opening a Can of Worms

Sarah Palin’s nomination for vice president of the United States of America has been the most praised, and most despised decision so far in the Republican party. Many of my friends couldn’t be more excited, and I agree. But I also know of many others who reacted very strongly in a negative way. I have heard people call her a Feminist, a woman un-fit to be a mother, and at least one other individual has gone so far as to say women shouldn’t be allowed to vote unless they are voting for their husband’s choice. :O Excuse me? I may have more of a stubborn streak in me than the Proverbs 31 woman, but there is a time when men take submission too far, and turn it into domination. I wondered whether or not to open this huge can of worms, and I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure that is, until I read an excellent article from a christian wife and mother on this very topic. I would strongly encourage you all to read it, and tell me what you think.

A Mommy and a VP

Росси́я (Russia)

I have long held a fascination with Russia. An unexplainable longing for a place, a country, a people I have never seen. Maybe God has called me to live in this land, to love those people everyday. Maybe He will lead me to a ministry in an American town with a predominantly Russian population. Maybe He just wants someone to pray for Russia, and it’s people. Russia is facing an important time in their history.

Outright communism has been replaced with a cloak and dagger government. One that speaks peace and behind it’s back kills those who point out the governments flaws. They are a country that has been misguided by their “freedom” and looks for every opportunity to push the envelope. They are so intoxicated with these last few years of freedom out from under the Soviet Union that they cannot see what is happening behind the scenes.

Those who stand up and make themselves heard are finding themselves silenced. Anna Politkovskaya was a famous Russian journalist who was repeatedly arrested, poisoned, and then mysteriously killed on October 7th, 2006. A former KGB officer who lived in London proclaimed her death to be an assassination by the Russian government, namely Vladimir Putin. That same man, Alexander Litvinenko, was poisoned to death in London.

Unless something dramatic changes in Russia the door will close forever. It will be a closed nation, one with hurting people. Russia will be a land of living captives.

“If you don’t know how great this country is, I know someone who does; Russia.” ~ Robert Frost

“In Russia all tyrants believe poets to be their worst enemies.” ~ Yevgeny Yevtushenko
(Russian poetry is deeply ingrained into the hearts of its people. Their language is poetry, they speak in poetry, they think in poetry. If someone could write a poem of democracy and spread it to the masses there might be change ~ my quote)

“Nothing is impossible in Russia but reform.” ~ Oscar Wilde quotes (Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, 1854-1900)

“Russia – immensity and suffocation.” ~ Emile M. Cioran (French philosopher,1911)

“In 1991, a miraculous thing happened, and that’s the Soviet Union ended. So there was an opportunity to build a very healthy and new world, on the basis of the change that the Russian people themselves wanted. But for Russia to make that change was going to be one of the most remarkably difficult and complex passages imaginable.” ~ Jeffrey Sachs

“In emerging democracies like Russia, in authoritarian states like Iran or even Yugoslavia, journalists play a vital role in civil society. In fact, they form the very basis of those new democracies and civil societies.” ~ Christiane Amanpour

 I think this quote sums everything up perfectly:

“Despite elections and the experience of post-Soviet personal freedoms by the Russian people, the fate of democracy in Russia is perhaps more ambiguous now than at any time since the collapse of the Communist system.” ~ Richard Lugar