Jesus declared that those who follow him must “take up the cross.” (Mt 10:38) What is Dorothy’s cross in baptizing her daughter and joining the Church? Her love for Forster is great, but greater still is her love for her child—and for her God.
By becoming a Catholic and baptizing her daughter, Dorothy must sacrifice her relationship with Forster and take up the cross of single motherhood. Dorothy knew that Forster was against religion and God, but even though she was madly in love with him, she knew she had to choose the right path. Dorothy chose to find salvation through God and the Catholic Church and she brought her daughter with her.
Her cross was a difficult one to bear. She had to give up the loving relationship she shared with her soul mate in order to become a part of God’s community. However, she felt this sacrifice was worth all the hardships she would face. Dorothy bravely faced raising an infant on her own, while continuing to carry out God’s good deeds through social work. She had no physical human being that she could confide in or lean on, but she had God. She bore the cross of loneliness and single motherhood bravely because through this burden, she was able to affect the lives of thousands of people.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Wal-Mart's Secret Life
Despite its lackluster name, Wal-Mart has a lot going for them on the surface. They provide affordable goods for people who might not be able to afford Whole Foods, Giant, and Acme. Wal-Mart also can boast about having thousands of location not only in the United States, but also around the world. These locations are easy to access and most are close to a person’s home. Finally, Wal-Mart can be the place for one stop shopping. All of your needs can be met at Wal-Mart. They sell food, clothing, kitchen appliance, electronics and a plethora of goods that can be used in facet of a person’s life. All of these good come at an affordable price for lower class families.
Hearing all of these wonderful things, it would be hard to imagine that Wal-Mart could be anything but the savior it appears to be. WRONG. Wal-Mart refuses to allow its workers to unionize. Unlike some unions, Wal-Mart employees are not trying to cheat the system or make unreasonable demands. Wal-Mart employees want should be afforded to every person in a job. They want to unionize to receive money for the overtime hours they work, not be discriminated against, receive the proper benefits to ensure their health, and numerous other things. Wal-Mart currently faces a class-action lawsuit filed by thousands of women across the country who claim they were discriminated against because they were woman. Furthermore, Wal-Mart gives such poor benefits to their employees that some are forced to go onto state-welfare programs to receive basic care.
Wal-Mart in some way, shape, or form, either breaks or follows each of the Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching.
1. Life and Dignity of Human Person—Wal-Mart places more value on goods and money than on the livelihoods of their employees and their employee’s families.
2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation—Deny their employees time to socialize with families and friends by forcing them to work long hours and over time without pay.
3. Rights and Responsibilities—Human rights are violated through the sweat shots and factories from where Wal-Mart’s goods are made.
4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable—While Wal-Mart does provide affordable services, it comes of the cost of small-town labors, companies, and the workers both here and abroad.
5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers—Denied the right to unionize to protect the people that work at Wal-Mart that are taken advantage of.
6. Solidarity—Force Americans into separate economic groups through underhanded tactics that ensure they remain rich while everyone else is poor.
7. Care for God’s Creation—Wal-Mart does not care about the people they employ since they cannot even offer proper health-care benefits to their employees
Hopefully, I am never in a situation where I have to work for Wal-Mart. I much rather work for companies like Wegmans and Wholefoods where the employees are treated justly. I think there are much nice and safer environments than Wal-Mart’s that are available for people to work in.
I do not shop in many big retail stores to begin with. Most of the stores where I do my shopping provide fair and equal benefits and pay to their employees. However, no stores that I shop at regularly sell American made goods, a fact that concerns me greatly. The truth of the matter is that I cannot afford the prices of stores that sell American goods only (Lucky Brand Jeans and American Apparel). It is one of my dreams that one day I am in a financial situation where all the clothes I buy and wear are made exclusively in American factories, therefore promoting the American economy, not China’s economy.
Hearing all of these wonderful things, it would be hard to imagine that Wal-Mart could be anything but the savior it appears to be. WRONG. Wal-Mart refuses to allow its workers to unionize. Unlike some unions, Wal-Mart employees are not trying to cheat the system or make unreasonable demands. Wal-Mart employees want should be afforded to every person in a job. They want to unionize to receive money for the overtime hours they work, not be discriminated against, receive the proper benefits to ensure their health, and numerous other things. Wal-Mart currently faces a class-action lawsuit filed by thousands of women across the country who claim they were discriminated against because they were woman. Furthermore, Wal-Mart gives such poor benefits to their employees that some are forced to go onto state-welfare programs to receive basic care.
Wal-Mart in some way, shape, or form, either breaks or follows each of the Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching.
1. Life and Dignity of Human Person—Wal-Mart places more value on goods and money than on the livelihoods of their employees and their employee’s families.
2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation—Deny their employees time to socialize with families and friends by forcing them to work long hours and over time without pay.
3. Rights and Responsibilities—Human rights are violated through the sweat shots and factories from where Wal-Mart’s goods are made.
4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable—While Wal-Mart does provide affordable services, it comes of the cost of small-town labors, companies, and the workers both here and abroad.
5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers—Denied the right to unionize to protect the people that work at Wal-Mart that are taken advantage of.
6. Solidarity—Force Americans into separate economic groups through underhanded tactics that ensure they remain rich while everyone else is poor.
7. Care for God’s Creation—Wal-Mart does not care about the people they employ since they cannot even offer proper health-care benefits to their employees
Hopefully, I am never in a situation where I have to work for Wal-Mart. I much rather work for companies like Wegmans and Wholefoods where the employees are treated justly. I think there are much nice and safer environments than Wal-Mart’s that are available for people to work in.
I do not shop in many big retail stores to begin with. Most of the stores where I do my shopping provide fair and equal benefits and pay to their employees. However, no stores that I shop at regularly sell American made goods, a fact that concerns me greatly. The truth of the matter is that I cannot afford the prices of stores that sell American goods only (Lucky Brand Jeans and American Apparel). It is one of my dreams that one day I am in a financial situation where all the clothes I buy and wear are made exclusively in American factories, therefore promoting the American economy, not China’s economy.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Demonic or Determined?
I do not believe that Nicki Minaj is possessed. I believe her actions at the 2012 Grammys were supposed to make a statement; however, I am unsure as to what that statement might be. Singers nowadays are becoming more and more extreme in their performances in order to attract media attention. I believe all of Nicki’s actions were with the intention of gathering attention for her upcoming album, not intentionally shaming the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, I believe that the Catholic Church’s reputation for being involved innumerous aspects of people’s daily lives leads to the Church being criticized by the media and public.
I personally was not offended by Nicki’s performance at the Grammys. While she did make several digs at the Catholic Church, it was done in a way that was poorly executed and reflected badly on her, not the Church. However, I can see where people would be upset about her performance. While mock exorcism was not vulgar, I found the singing of “Come All Ye Faithful” very distasteful. I understand Nicki wanting to make a statement, but to mock a song that numerous children hear growing up, a song often associated with Christmas, was unnecessary.
I also agree with Bill Donohue in his assessment of the choir boys praying and the women prostrating themselves on the prayer table. This scene was simply poor taste. It served no purpose to enhance her performance, in fact, in only added confusion to an already lackluster showing. I normally enjoy watching Nicki perform on stage, I feel that she has a lot of talent and her quirky ideas for stage performance are often novel and interesting. However, Nicki stuck out on this performance.
As for Donohue claims about other religions not receiving the criticism that Church receives, I have to agree with him. However, I do believe that most of the time, the Church brings the criticism onto itself. While the Jewish and Islam communities are vocal about their ideas, the Catholic Church is much more open to telling other of their ideas. Furthermore, since many Americans view Church ideas as being archaic and not up-to-date with the times, their comments are often ridiculed. While I do not believe any institution should be mocked because they have strong believes, when you’re the only fish in the sea, people are bound to come after you.
I personally was not offended by Nicki’s performance at the Grammys. While she did make several digs at the Catholic Church, it was done in a way that was poorly executed and reflected badly on her, not the Church. However, I can see where people would be upset about her performance. While mock exorcism was not vulgar, I found the singing of “Come All Ye Faithful” very distasteful. I understand Nicki wanting to make a statement, but to mock a song that numerous children hear growing up, a song often associated with Christmas, was unnecessary.
I also agree with Bill Donohue in his assessment of the choir boys praying and the women prostrating themselves on the prayer table. This scene was simply poor taste. It served no purpose to enhance her performance, in fact, in only added confusion to an already lackluster showing. I normally enjoy watching Nicki perform on stage, I feel that she has a lot of talent and her quirky ideas for stage performance are often novel and interesting. However, Nicki stuck out on this performance.
As for Donohue claims about other religions not receiving the criticism that Church receives, I have to agree with him. However, I do believe that most of the time, the Church brings the criticism onto itself. While the Jewish and Islam communities are vocal about their ideas, the Catholic Church is much more open to telling other of their ideas. Furthermore, since many Americans view Church ideas as being archaic and not up-to-date with the times, their comments are often ridiculed. While I do not believe any institution should be mocked because they have strong believes, when you’re the only fish in the sea, people are bound to come after you.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Response to Apple Products
After reading this article, I was not 100% percent shocked to learn what was happening at Apple products plants in China. Our culture is known for having sweatshops, child labor, unsafe working conditions, and many more human rights violations for the sake of saving money. We live in a materialistic world, a world where efficiency, both cost and speed, are king over everything else. Big corporations, like Apple, do not show compassion or care towards the workers in the factories. Their actions leading up to and including the explosion at Chengdu, clearly show this mind set.
As an apple user, I do view the company differently; however, I also realize that this change of view will most likely not affect my use of Apple products. I have an iPhone. I use this technology everyday in life. Whether as a phone, music listening device, email, or internet, Apple products have become major part of my life. This article might affect my futures actions regarding Apple. Maybe I won’t but the iPhone 5, or for my next laptop, I will not get an Apple. However, even if I was to boycott Apple products, the other technologies I would buy would be no better. Dell, Sprint, Toshiba, all of these companies probably have the same poor working conditions that Apple does. As much as I would like to make a difference, I fear there is no way in today's society to do so. I do not mean to sound hopeless in this statement, but unless everyone in the world signs sign a petition or boycotts the company, the billion-dollar technology industry will not listen.
My consciousness has definitely been raised by this article. One day, when money is not as much of an issue as it is today, I will do my best to buy American made products or products that do not violate the human rights of others. I hope that one day disasters like the one in Chengdu will not happen. It is my hope for the future that one day; all humans will receive the basic rights that have been given to me. Furthermore, I hope that governments will protect their people from unscrupulous companies like Foxcom in order to ensure the safety and well-being of their people.
As an apple user, I do view the company differently; however, I also realize that this change of view will most likely not affect my use of Apple products. I have an iPhone. I use this technology everyday in life. Whether as a phone, music listening device, email, or internet, Apple products have become major part of my life. This article might affect my futures actions regarding Apple. Maybe I won’t but the iPhone 5, or for my next laptop, I will not get an Apple. However, even if I was to boycott Apple products, the other technologies I would buy would be no better. Dell, Sprint, Toshiba, all of these companies probably have the same poor working conditions that Apple does. As much as I would like to make a difference, I fear there is no way in today's society to do so. I do not mean to sound hopeless in this statement, but unless everyone in the world signs sign a petition or boycotts the company, the billion-dollar technology industry will not listen.
My consciousness has definitely been raised by this article. One day, when money is not as much of an issue as it is today, I will do my best to buy American made products or products that do not violate the human rights of others. I hope that one day disasters like the one in Chengdu will not happen. It is my hope for the future that one day; all humans will receive the basic rights that have been given to me. Furthermore, I hope that governments will protect their people from unscrupulous companies like Foxcom in order to ensure the safety and well-being of their people.
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