Make it History Campaign: Life Society at NUI Galway

This article appears on page 24 of the current edition of Life Matters Journal. You can read it online for free here. 

Ireland remains one of the only countries in the world without abortion, embryonic stem cell research, or the death penalty. Its armed forces are neutral in wartime, and are only ever sent on peacekeeping missions. Pro-life student groups in Ireland’s colleges and universities have a vital role to play in educating the next generation of Irishmen and Irishwomen on the importance of maintaining the country’s pro-life ethos.

Life Society at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) is at the forefront of this mission, seeking to educate the university’s students on right to life issues, and to foster value and respect for each person’s dignity as a human being.

This year, the society has undergone a period of transition. A new committee was elected in Fall 2011 who made the decision to move away from focusing solely on abortion. Life Society’s events now also encompass other right to life issues such as capital punishment, gendercide, and racism.

A more engaging approach was adopted by the society, preferring genuine discussion of the issues, rather than relying on shock tactics. This new approach has been successful for the society, with many students commenting that the group seems more approachable and mainstream this year.

In talking to pro-life students, we found that many of them knew why they were pro-life but found it very difficult to articulate their reasons to others. In January we hosted a debating workshop for pro-life students to equip them with the skills to talk to other students about right to life issues. It’s extremely important to be pro-life in one’s heart, but it’s equally important to be able to explain to others why it’s necessary that society values human beings’ lives equally.

We co-operate with other groups to organise the provision of better support for expecting and parenting students on campus. Thanks to the generosity of donors and alumni, we are in a position to provide limited support to some of these students ourselves. Members of Life Society recently founded a support group for expecting and parenting students on campus. Nurture is a weekly informal meeting where expecting and parenting students can meet and share their fears, challenges and achievements. Every three weeks or so, the group hosts a guest speaker or workshop on some aspect of parenting. Supporting expecting and parenting students is a hugely important function of a university pro-life group; every effort should be made to ensure that female students who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant will be supported in their dual role as parent and student and not see abortion as their only option.

In both semesters, we hosted gendercide information stalls. At these stalls, we showed All Girls Allowed’s video “37 Seconds” and encouraged students to sign the Stop Gendercide Now petition. In November, we planned to host Reggie Littlejohn, founder and President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers. Unfortunately Reggie had to return to the United States when her mother unexpectedly passed away. Naturally, the event had to be cancelled. Life Society’s gendercide information stall was one of a series of events in NUIG to mark International Women’s Day on March 8^th. In addition to the video and petition, we also took photos to contribute to the Women’s Rights Without Frontiers photo campaign to free Chen Chuancheng, a human rights activist jailed in China for exposing forced abortion and other human rights abuses. Talking to students about gendercide raised a some interesting points. Most strikingly, the majority students either didn’t know the practice of gendercide existed, or didn’t realise its prevalence. All were, of course, abhorred once they learned about the issue. Interestingly, even when presenting gendercide in the context of a broader pro-life ethic, we received support from students who would never previously have described themselves as pro-life. Having spoken to many NUIG students at Life Society events, it seems that contextualising gendercide as one part of a broader group of right to life issues challenged many of them to re-consider their viewpoint on other issues such as abortion or the death penalty.

Combatting racism is an important, and often forgotten, issue in the pro-life movement. Even today, in supposedly developed countries, venomous institutional racism can be found at the heart of major organisations. We were blessed to be able to host Ryan and Bethany Bomberger from The Radiance Foundation, who gave a presentation on their work challenging institutional racism in Planned Parenthood in the United States. Recently, we screened “Maafa 21:  Black Genocide in 21^st Century America” which gives an in-depth analysis into the eugenic and racist foundations of the American abortion industry. Although such matters may be difficult to contemplate, we must not shy away from discussing them simply because they are unpalatable. A person’s inherent worth is not contingent on the amount of melanin in their skin. Racism is erodes a person’s human dignity; it is completely unacceptable and pro-life student groups should loudly and proudly proclaim this message on their campuses.

We recently hosted a screening of “British Woman on Death Row”, a documentary about Linda Carty who is currently waiting to be executed in Texas. The death penalty hasn’t been used in Ireland since 1954, so the horror associated with capital punishment is now virtually absent from Irish living memory. It is vital that we continue to educate young Irish people so that the country’s pro-life laws are never reversed. The right to life is too important a cause to neglect; we must keep working hard to maintain legal protection for the right to life and to constantly strive to make our society more caring and life-affirming.

We have arranged a few more events before this academic year draws to a close in April. We will be raising money for DigDeep, a human rights advocacy and development initiative committed to promoting and protecting the right to water with a Whole Life ethic. They run education projects across the United States and work to provide safe and sustainable water sources in Sudan. A researcher in NUIG who was recently given special recognition by the Irish Cancer Society for her work on stem cell therapy using adult stem cells. In the coming weeks she will be giving a talk to our members on this exciting research. On April 27^th, we will have volunteers stationed across the campus to collect donations for the Special Olympics National Collection Day.

Our final event for the year will be the Inter-Varsity weekend for pro-life student groups in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. We are really looking forward to meeting our counterparts from other pro-life student groups across the country; to share our progress with them and hear about events their groups have organised. 

Readables and pretty things

• The One About Floral Things  @  Meet Me At Mike's
• The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen          @  The Guardian  
• The $6 DIY dress  @  Talk2TheTrees
• What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success                        @  The Atlantic
• the homebirth of alba joy firebrace  @  We Live Young                                  (The photography that goes with this post is really beautiful.)

International Down Syndrome Day

This video of Kelle Hampton speaking about her daughter Nella should be required viewing. 

Kelle writes a blog called Enjoying the Small Things. One of her first posts was Nella's birth story, and it's quite possibly the most beautiful things you'll ever read. 

Sunday night reads

Photo-Friday: Fearless  @  Infinite Learners 

The Feministing Five: Ina May Gasking  @  Feministing

Beyond Stereotypes: The New Face of Homeschooling  @  Simple Homeschool 

Visual Family Journal  @  The Hippie Housewife 

True Grit: Can Perseverance Be Taught?  @  Farnam Street 

Finding meaning in a broken world

It's easy to get downhearted.

We live in a world which is imperfect.

People let us down.  I think this is often hardest when you really love the person and want them to be the best they can be.  In that case, knowing that they're doing themselves a great disservice can be hugely disappointing.  But try to love them fully, because their flaws are part of the person you love too.

Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by our own failings, or feel a greater disillusionment with society.  That can be the hardest of all to overcome, because we can't change every situation, or fix every problem the world faces.  Our values may be at odds with those we live, work or study with.  To go against the grain is rarely easy, and often exhausting!

It's not easy to reconcile oneself with these things, even if we know that they are inalienable truths.

Finding meaning in a broken world takes time.

You might find yourself disheartened again and again.  And that's OK.

But keep searching.




One of the quotes I have above my desk in my room is from Anne Frank:

I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains. 

It's a strangely inspiring quote, I think. Here is a young girl who suffered horribly for being Jewish in Nazi Germany; lived sequestered away in an annex, before wasting away in a concentration camp. Despite this, she could see the wonder and possibility that still remains in our world.

And that's still true today. Although there is hurt and suffering, there is great beauty and hope in the world too.

Here are a few things that made me smile this week, and if you're feeling a bit beleaguered by life I hope that  they make you feel a teeny bit better too. 

Things We Forget  is a lovely collection of quirky, uplifting Post It notes that a guy in Singapore creates and sticks in public places for people to come across. 

It's nice to spread a little love   :)  

If you like art, interiors, flowers (or just pretty things in general), stop by pve.  A visit will be therapeutic for sure. 

[Be sure to explore their great blogroll too!] 

I fell in love with this woman a little bit when I watched her video.  I adore her crafting, the quirky inside of her house, the big bright caravan randomly placed in the back garden.  Her life is so bohemian and wholesome; I want all of it!

Little by little, we'll get there. 

Please stop, America, you're embarrassing me

In the early hours of yesterday morning, one of my American facebook friends told me to turn on CNN; The President is about to start speaking. It's clearly important since it's nearly 11 on a Sunday night. I don't know what it is, but I don't think I'd miss it if I were you, just in case. 


The White House website had live streaming set up. As I sat there waiting for it to begin, news began to trickle through on facebook that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.  


I felt neither joy nor sadness at this news. 


It's odd to think of it now, but when the "War on Terror" began shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, I supported the war. I was but a baby then; filled with noble notions of protecting liberty and eradicating evil. 


My support for the war waned within its first few years. I disagree with it for many reasons - it is ineffective and counter-productive, there's a lot of reason to question the motives behind beginning the war in the first instance, it has caused great unrest and displacement of people in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in neighbouring countries.   


Most of all, I oppose the war because I have steadily grown in my support of human rights for all humans. The war has cheapened the value of human life to an alarming degree. I remember seeing the video of American soldiers shooting a wounded civilian lying on the ground in the early years of the war. They "finished him off" and laughed. The abuse scandals that came out of the Abu Ghraib prison merely confirmed that there was absolutely nothing noble or honorable about this mission. 


Ironically, the war has strengthened jihad by making many people in the Middle East sympathetic to Al Qaeda's struggle. Iraq and Afghanistan are now in tatters and the governments are on their knees. Around the world, Muslims everywhere have suffered intolerance and discrimination because they are all branded as "terrorists". We have done a great disservice to the majority of Muslims - honest men and women who are just as disgusted by terrorism as every other right-thinking person on the planet. 


I am certain that most military men and women enlist with the best of intentions. But I think they have been swept up with the belief in service to one's country and defending liberty and noble ideals and honour and every other reason that's peddled out to excuse systemic killing. They need to be reached out to, so that they can see war for what it is; that they may open their eyes to the horror and the destruction and the suffering that they, in part, are causing. 


Ronald Regan spoke very well about the morality of taking a human life. He wasn't talking about the "War on Terror" of course, but I think it is still apt for today. 

"We cannot pretend that America is preserving her first and highest ideal: the belief that each life is sacred. ...  Abraham Lincoln recognised that we could not survive as a free land when some could decide whether others should be free or slaves. Today, another question begs to be asked: how can we survive as a free nation when some decide that others are not fit to live and should be done away with?"

Do terrorists deserve to live? And who should decide?  


We all have the same inalienable right to life. Whether we like it or not, even men and women who have committed the most heinous crimes are entitled to the right to life. None of us is qualified to make the decision to kill any other person. 


I am of the strong belief that Osama Bin Laden should have been taken back to the United States and given a public trial. Even his life deserved to be treated with dignity. Yes, he did horrible things. Unthinkable, repulsive, disgusting things. His actions touched the lives of thousands of people around the world. And the repercussions hurt countless loved ones every day. 


Even still, killing him was wrong. His death will never bring back the people he is responsible for killing. It will not erase the pain and loss their loved ones felt and continue to feel. I certainly don't believe it has lessoned the risk of terrorist attacks. Nor do I believe it will improve the situation on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. 


As the news filtered through (and then exploded out after the President's statement) the majority of people expressed unbridled glee at his death.  Most of the many reactions I read concerning his death disgusted me. 

• "Now there's something I'll drink to. I'm opening a bottle of wine!"
• Giddy proclamations of "we got the bastard!!!!!!!"
• From facebook: "HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, that's what I said to Joseph my hubby this morning...Look he's gone, we as Christians don't delight in someone going to HELL!! but he had his chances to repent just like Judas, oh well!!!! U.S.A.'s FINEST DESEVRES A MIGHTY PRAISE from us ♥ ♥ ♥ I for one am grateful to be rid of bin Laden, however what Geo.W. Bush said is true, we will have more terror to fight, 1 down ummmmmmmmm XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXmore to go!"
• This video was also offensive to "The Wizard of Oz" fans everywhere. 
  
  
• "Maybe this is a night just to be a proud American, & not an 'R' or a 'D'"
  Are you kidding me? I'm hard pressed to think of occasions when I've felt less proud to be American. 
• "We are the most exceptional Country in the world! Our Navy Seals are the best of the best. We would never bring ourselves down to the extremist's level. Our men and women of our Military do the right thing. How hard is that to understand? We are better than they."
  
  When I read things like the above comments, I'm tempted to hand my American passport back in. 

There were even "death parties" in some American cities, like this one in New York last night. People literally partying at another person's suffering and death. It's scenes like this that sometimes make me embarrassed to be a US citizen. 

The world may be a better place without Bin Laden, but the murder of any man is never a cause for celebration.


I thought this was going to be a rare seal of approval for Obama from me. He began his address very well. He spoke of the unity of the nation after 9/11 and how the American people leaned on each other during a very difficult time. 


But then, of course, he had to go and ruin it by taking too much credit for the operation and coming out with some statements that stopped just short of being absolutely preposterous. If only he'd put more time into the humility of his speech instead of focusing his efforts on co-ordinating his tie with the carpet. 

His speech was bulging at the seems with hypocrisy and irony. 


He spoke of "liberty and justice for all" - well, except if you're not one of the "all" Barack wants to extend liberty and justice to, that is.


The President also mentioned "senseless slaughter of citizens" at the hands of Bin Laden. He seems to be forgetting that he's ultimately in charge of one of the most active armies on the planet which professionally senselessly slaughters citizens on a daily basis. 'But they're not American citizens, so what do we care?'  was the obvious undertone. 


Obama also said "his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity". I almost choked when he came out with this cracker of a statement. He has the nerve to suggest that shooting a man twice in the head is somehow upholding human dignity.






America, I love you, but you really are mortifying sometimes. 

Taking procrastination to new and ridiculous levels

I have my Chemistry exam in about seven hours. 


And I am freaking out. 




But I've actually reached the stage where I feel like what I don't know is so immense, there's no point in even trying anymore. Instead of actually doing something to increase my knowledge I've spent the last few days alternating between faffing about and having miniature panic attacks about the situation.



I'm beginning to wonder how I ever got through the Leaving Cert. at all. But I was motivated then, and that makes all the difference. I don't know why I'm not motivated anymore. I guess I feel like there are no great hurdles that are worth making the effort to overcome right now. 

“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

Lou Holtz

The diversity of my procrastination methods is quite astounding. And I think I've really out done myself this weekend. 

• I've spent an inordinate amount of time on facebook; chatting, linking and general creeping. I'm going to need some sort of rehab to kick this addiction if I'm going to be able to get through First Med. next year. 

• I stopped short of ''organising folders'' but, of course, I used that favourite method of procrastinating; tidying. My room was a wreck though so this was probably time well spent. 

• I've read a ton of articles by other bloggers. I now know more about "Birth Without Violence" than even I thought possible. 

• I made some chocolate chip cookies, which Lisa and I ate with tea (it was also her birthday today!). I will miss our tea breaks sorely next year, mostly because I love her dearly but also because they occupy a fantastic amount of time that I would otherwise have to fill with alternative methods of procrastinating. The cookies are really good by the way! 

• On Saturday I literally lay on my bed for about 4 hours of the afternoon, the thoughts of my Ceimic exam depressed me so much. Then I proceeded to faff the evening away yet again. 

• I also expended my energy and time getting really angry about my Ceimic tutor. He has only met with us twice all year. The last time we met up as a class - a week ago - I gave him exam questions that I had answered to correct. We were supposed to meet back up once or twice last week but that never happened. He then proceeded to ignore the e-mail that I sent him. As a result, I didn't have those questions to learn off for the exam which made me rather angry. 

• Mo Hat Mo Gheansaí were quite the find this weekend. I'm more than slightly addicted to their song Ní tú mo ghrá. 

• I wrote out a few more inspirational quotes for my wall. 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King Jr. 

I must say MLK has really grown on me in the past few months. His message has resonated more with me now than ever before. I'm not quite sure what brought about this change. I'm also reading the blog of Dr. Alveda King, his niece. 

Hopefully tomorrow won't be too bad. I don't expect or want anything outstanding. If I scrape through on 50% I'll be happy out when it comes to Ceimic. 

I really don't want to spend the entire Summer studying. 

Or exhausting myself by constantly having to find new ways of avoiding study, more specifically!