St. Michael Warrior Award to: 'Rebecca aka The Mom'

You know that saying: "The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword"... well I have found a prime example of that. Rebecca, better know as: aka the Mom, had one of those moments that warriors LONG for. Those of you that seek confrontation will understand this... especially those of you who work VERY hard at restraining yourself and being charitable in most situations, even if it goes against your will and desire.

aka the Mom was faced with one of those situations where her principles, morals, and dignity were tested by fire. She had two choices... one path required truth, honor, loyalty... the other only required submission, acceptance, and comfort. The first path required her to face fear, confrontation, scorn, mocking and ridicule. The other meant safety, politeness, and ease.

She chose the former. Not because it was confrontational... but because it was right. She wrote about it on her blog... not to brag, but to make a point: There's an Irony There

Here is an excerpt:

"I love when the homeschoolers come in here." She said in a mock whisper to her co-worker. "We get to see the look on their faces as they discover that teaching kids is hard and you have to be smarter than they thought."

With jokes about my lack of intelligence still carrying across the open space, I set about answering the question of why my child hadn't gotten the chicken pox vaccine. It didn't help that I had a space one line long. How do I reduce my faith, politics and health philosophies into one line? I finally settled on "The varicella vaccine is cultured in fetal tissue. As a Catholic, we can not materially cooperate in any way with the intentional destruction of human life."

~~~

It was then that the loud-mouth from next door came in waving the objector form. "You need to re-write this," she demanded... Go to: "Shoved to Them" - to read the rest

Defend Us In Battle

To all those that read this, and the account above: THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT BY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER, 1 JULY 2010, DEFEND US IN BATTLE HAS AWARDED

THE SAINT MICHAEL WARRIOR AWARD

TO:  REBECCA 'aka The Mom'

FOR EXCEPTIONALLY VALOROUS ACTION IN THE FACE OF OVERWHELMING ODDS AND DIRECT HOSTILE AGGRESSIONS AS THE MOTHER FOR A CHILD IN NEED OF SPECIAL EDUCATION. aka THE MOM'S EXCEPTIONAL COURAGE, DEDICATION TO CHILDREN, AND ADHERENCE TO TRUTH AND HONOR DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF HER FAMILY'S PRINCIPLES AND MORALS. HER REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE AND INTELLECTUAL PROWESS IN THE MIDST OF ATTACK UNDOUBTEDLY PRESERVED THE EVERLASTING SOULS OF HER FAMILY, HERSELF AND REFLECTS THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF CATHOLIC FAITH AND TRADITION. aka THE MOM'S ACTIONS WHILE ENGAGED IN COMBAT OPERATIONS DURING THE BATTLE AGAINST EVIL REFLECT GREAT CREDIT UPON HER, THE CATHOLIC BLOGOSPHERE AND THE ONE TRUE CHURCH.

GIVEN UNDER MY HAND IN THE CATHOLIC BLOGOSPHERE

THIS 1st DAY OF JULY, 2010

-Joe, Defend Us In Battle

The Morality In Jobs

The nice thing about long drives with people is it enables you to talk... or sometimes forces you to do so. Yesterday, Dan of Gun Lovin' Alaskan Catholic Club and I went out to our hunting site to put some bait out. The drive was a good 30-45 minutes each way, and it enabled us to talk about "stuff." You know, the random conversations that flow from topic to topic, and evolve organically into really deep life issues. 

We started talking about "Moral Issues" in our jobs, or more precisely how we deal with these issues balancing our Catholic faith and the requirements of our job to ensure we get paid and therefore feed and house our family. Working in the legal field, it is really easy to think of situations where morality and my faith are implicated. In fact, I deal with it on an almost daily issue. Honestly, this makes it easier I think because I went into the field knowing that I would be dealing with such issues. In fact, I went to a law school that specifically prepared for for such issues, and one that taught me how to think from a Natural Law philosophical base. Therefore, I feel as if I am ready for the day to day onslaught of morally difficult situations.

What seemed harder were jobs where the difficult moral situations weren't around every corner. Let's say a person that works at a home improvement store? What are the serious moral issues that come up, where as a worker you say, "As a Catholic how do I handle this situation?" Obviously you can construct situations in your head; for example if a person comes in and asks how to build a temple to satan, you might have to get someone else to help them.

The difficulty comes in when you need to balance your faith, with your responsibility and obligation to your employer. So what are some odd or unexpected moral situations you all have been in, and how have you handled it? This is more of an open thread type of post... more of a question than an answer, but I think it is interesting and would like to know how you all dealt with the surprises that pop up at work.