Purposeful living

Often there is confusion or controversy about what is right and wrong when it comes to teaching youth about sex, and about promoting abstinence until marriage as the expected standard for youth.
However, when you think about it from a God-centered perspective, it is clear. Genesis 1:28 says that one should "Be fruitful, and multiply, and ...have dominion". Many equate being "fruitful" and "multiplying" as being the same, but that is not the case. Being fruitful means fulfilling your God-given potential and purpose. This is the stage where youth and young adults should develop their heart and spiritual self, learning to love and serve others. It is good for youth to focus on causes greater than their own self-interest. Relationships between boys and girls should be brotherly and sisterly, and should not involve romantic relationships.
During the second phase, which is "multiply", each person should resemble God, who has both male and female attributes, by forming a family. Since this will enable that couple to resemble God's complete image, the sexual union within marriage is a sacred union. It is not an exaggeration to say that God wants to bless that union, and that under His blessing, He wants to dwell in that very relationship, where the couples' love will bear fruit and where life and lineage can be created.
Since a man and a woman are resembling God through the sexual relationship (or should be!), it is a sacred union, one that should not be consummated outside the confines of marriage.
With this understanding, we can realize that anything that keeps youth from moving toward the purpose for which God created us (to grow as individuals in our relationship with God, resemble Him in families, and take care of the Creation) is wrong.
So should we be giving HPV vaccine to 11 year old girls. Of course not!. Should we be promoting same sex relationships to the same age group. Of course not! Should we be telling youth that sexual relationships are normal, just use a condom! Of course not!
From the above spiritual perspective, it is no surprise that sex outsie of marriage carries serious physical, emotional and social, as well as spiritual consequences.

Advertising nude models in Civic Newsletter

In the September issue of The Buzz, it is advertised that jewelry in an exhibit at Evolve Galleries will be displayed on nude models during the opening reception. While Evolve galleries is certainly free to hold this event, it is wrong to advertise it for free in "North Lincoln Park's Neighborhood Newsletter", which is distributed each month to over 1000 homes in the North Lincoln Park area.

This is another example of an "anything goes" attitude toward moral and family issues. It is interesting to note that Elizabeth Nelson of The Buzz editorial team is one of the persons who was on an Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC)6A committee that recommended that ULTRA Teen Choice, an organization that promotes sexual abstinence and preparation for marriage, not receive any funding from the ANC, except for xerox copies (that, too, was ultimately denied).

Loose Numbers

According to a USA Today article , more than half of all high school girls have been exposed to the HPV virus before they graduate. This is supposed to justify giving 11 and 12 year old girls HPV vaccine shots manufactured by Merck. However, according tot he youth risk behavior surveillance system, 54% of high school females have never had sexual intercourse. So that means that more than 100% of all sexually active high school females have HPV. But the actual figure is 25 percent among 14 to 19 year old females. So much for medical accuracy.

More than half of girls have been exposed to HPV by the time they finish high
school, says Carol Baker, professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine
and a member of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

How did she come up with that figure? Could she have some connection to the Merck company?

Wouldn't it make more sense to strongly promote sexual abstinence for teenagers, especially 11 and 12 year olds. How about spending $375 per student (or most likely a lot less) to educate youth on the benefits of staying sexually abstinent? In Washington, DC, each child born to a mother 17 years old and younger costs tax payers $5791 per year, not including the costs associated with care for the mother, and that is a conservative estimate.

Michelle Rhee pushes agendas instead of helping youth

The attempt to influence teachers to give up tenure by hiring some teachers to lobby is another example of how The Fenty/Rhee administration puts agendas before student, parent, teacher and citizen well being. In my role as the director of a nonprofit that was operating at Eastern Senior High School and several other DC Public Schools, I can attest to the pressure and manipulation that was put on teachers who have served the school system for many years. I personally know of four teachers who retired just this past year. One did not bother to finish the school year. After 25 years of teaching, he was fed up with unruly classrooms and lack of support from the school administration. Another teacher worked heroically to help 10th grade students who were reading at fifth grade level. She was subjected to repeated "evaluations", and has also retired. Another teacher had a stoke and recovered. She too had served students for over 25 years, and has also retired.
Why does Ms Rhee want to fire, retire or otherwise push out so many teachers. Could she be pushing other agendas than the welfare of the youth.
Yes, definitely. One such agenda is getting rid of older, tenured teachers to make way for younger teachers (read New Teacher Project, Ms. Rhee's former organization) who are more comfortable promoting "diversity" (read promotion of normalization of same sex relationships for youth starting in 6th grade). Could there also be a bias toward teachers who may display more inclination to partner with faith based organizations in the community? That is a possibility, too.
Ms. Rhee lied repeatedly in kicking the ULTRA Teen Choice program out of DC Public Schools, while her staff had stated back in December that the real reason was that they do not agree with programs that promote abstinence and waiting to have sex until marriage, but do not specifically include discussion of same sex relationships.

Why Abstinence?

This evening I was attending a Kiwanis Club meeting. While at the cashier, I talked to a young lady at the cashier. who is a junior at a southeast Washington, DC high school. I explained about signing the petition to save abstinence education in Washington, DC. She said that she supports that because she has a sister who is 16 years old. When her sister was 13, she had an abortion. She is emotionally messed up because of that. The guy was 30 years old, and ended up getting jail time for statutory rape.
How many youth could literally be saved if we could get the message of abstinence out to more youth?
How does giving out a condom deal at all with the whole person? What about the emotional, social, moral as well as the physical consequences of having sex?
I will fight with all my heart and soul for the youth. No one has the right to stop those youth who want to choose sexual abstinence from having a program to support them.

Mandatory HPV Vaccine is the Wrong Focus for our Youth

Today I realized once again why I am doing this work with youth. I was at the ULTRA Teen Choice Service Club meeting at Eastern High School. One of the Club Members indicated that they would like to attend one of the events that are occurring during Abstinence Awareness. That in itself is not unusual. But what I felt behind it is the sincere desire to respond to the caring that our staff is expressing by having the ULTRA Teen Choice program for the youth. Another youth stopped me a few meetings ago, and asked if I had her new phone number. She knows that sometimes staff will call to update parents and students on current activities.

What if there were Clubs for all of the youth who want to make right choices and practice abstinence from sex before marriage and other healthy behaviors? For a very nominal cost we can encourage youth to make right choices.

Many youth in DC have difficult home situations. They may have moved several times between different relatives, and a significant percentage are not living with either their mom or their dad. Clubs that promote abstinence and avoidance of other risk behaviors, and that give participating youth a chance to speak out to other students, are a good investment, indeed.

There has been talk about requiring all 6th grade girls in DC to get a three part inoculation for Human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that is the primary cause of cervical cancer. This will cost $360 per student, and will last no more that five years. Side effects of the drug for children this young are unknown, and the drug will wear off before the peak age when most girls would be exposed to the virus.

How about "inoculating" youth with an injection of Clubs that promote abstinence from sex before marriage for middle school students, and also continuing support for high school youth, staffed by caring and well trained adults, including mentor "STAR Guides from local universities?. For about the same cost per student as this vaccination, we can provide clubs for thirty 7th and 8th grade students for five years at every middle school. Also, these students will reach out to all of the other 7th and 8th grade youth, and additionally, parents will receive education, too. For a very nominal cost, we can also provide classroom education on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy that emphasizes the physical, intellectual, emotional, and social benefits of abstaining from sex before marriage.

How can we not support these precious youth who sincerely want to better their lives? Giving vaccinations has its place, but isn't the real issue one of addressing the whole person, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially? Let's give our youth a brighter future by promoting self control, relationship skills, and preparation for healthy relationships with the opposite sex. Focusing on giving vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases to eleven year old girls is the wrong focus. Focusing on education and peer plus adult support for youth to stay abstinent is the right focus.

What do eleven year old girls in DC fear?

Character, not condoms. That says a lot. Today, in a discussion session with middle school youth, led by college STAR guides (interns), I was touched and angry to hear that some girls in 6th grade in Washington, DC, have to worry about being raped or murdered. The discussion turned around a story about Wilbur the pig, from Charlotte's Web. Wilbur didn't quite know what to do with his new found "freedom" when he temporarily escaped from the barnyard. The connection was that the youth were asked "What are things young people your age might fear?" Some answers were, "being robbed" and "being raped or jacked up". Well, I remember being afraid of neighborhood bullies, but how about the fear of being raped and murdered?

What kind of world are we creating for our children. Does saying, "well, if you are going to have sex, use a condom" even begin to address the issues behind the kind of violent, disrespectful world that many children, (almost all children, if you consider the influence of media) have to grow up with.

Promoting abstinence for our youth is not just about pregnancy or disease, although those are very important issues. It is about promoting respect, kindness and concern for the well being of others. A world where youth wait until marriage to have sex is a vastly safer world for children, as well as for adults. Those learning to abstain from sex are practicing self control and respect for others. Youth who are abstaining from sex are much less likely to use drugs or alcohol, be arrested or suspended from school.

What kind of world do we want to create for our children; a world that says, "here, use a condom", or one that says "wait until marriage so that you can realize the full beauty and joy of a committed sexual relationship with someone you truly love". The answer to this question is directly related to whether we will see a more peaceful and respectful world in the future, or one where eleven year old girls have to literally fear being raped or killed.
Richard