My Mother Taught Me Better Than That

I just want to state that I am sitting on my front porch swing, drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying the cool breeze. Yes, I said cool. Now, onto today's post.

Yesterday, August 15th, was the 9th anniversary of my mother's death. My mom, Margaret, was an incredible woman. She raised my 3 younger sisters and I. She worked full time. She lived with a very painful illness. She was a girl scout leader. She sang practically every Sunday at Mass. She was hilarious. I get my sense of humor from her.

My mother taught me so much. She taught me how to be a mom. Now she wasn't perfect and neither am I as far as mothering goes. But I'm not striving for perfection. One very important thing my mother taught me was to be a woman of God. Not just a good Catholic woman but a woman of God. Yes, I struggle with that daily. Who doesn't? But being a woman or man of God means that we are to love all of God's people. Not just those we deem worthy.

I try to watch the news and keep up with what is going on in the world. I am not into politics and actually hate it. Recently, I have been hearing more and more about this mosque that may be built near Ground Zero. First, please do not send me hate comments cause I will just delete them and then pray for you. Second, this is my opinion. If you don't agree with me that is fine and your right. Just respect my rights.

I am all for a mosque being built near Ground Zero. My reason is this: We were not attacked by the Muslim faith. We were attacked by al-Qaeda. The more I read about this issue the stronger I feel that I need to speak up. I am a practicing Catholic. I raise my children to be Catholic. I am not a pedophile. Because of what some priests have done, catholics are given a bad name. This happens all the time to all different kinds of groups or religions.

We live in a country that boasts about its freedoms. We the people have to fight for them. Every religion has the right to practice. And if its near Ground Zero, so be it. We really need to think about who we are persecuting. Many Muslims died on September 11th too.

That day was a horrible day. I didn't just cry for the Catholics who were killed. I cried for my country and that includes those who are different than me. I know my mom was looking down on us and crying as well. She wouldn't want me to hate a group of people because of what others did just because they shared similar traits. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I am trying to be the woman my mother and father raised me to be. I am trying to raise my children the same way. But it breaks my heart knowing that each day as my children go to school and say the pledge that our country could turn on them in second if given a chance. We have the power. We are the PEOPLE. Take the lead and open our hearts to our American brothers and sisters. You don't have to agree with them or believe what they do. But please respect them. Respect each other. Cause if we don't then we never learned anything when those planes crashed.