What are you Doing about the Real World, may I ask?

"Babies are MURDERED here," reads a hand-made sign as I pull into the parking lot of my destination.  A young woman holds the sign over her head and, across the long space of green, she gazes directly at my car.  Well, that's an interesting question, I muse, climbing out and beginning my vigil.  Just where is "here"?

My first thought of course is ISIS, or Daesh (a better name to use since the group hates it).  Yes, Daesh cruelly tortures/kills babies, children, adults, every one they hate.  I think of the toddler whose body washes up on a Mediterranean beach this summer.  Yes, he is murdered by many -- those in his country who make it impossible for families to be safe, those who peddle in human trafficking, and those who build fences bordering anti-refugee countries.  I think of the 14-year-old who has just starved to death early April, 2016.  Yes, Assad's Syrian government obstructs humanitarian aid to his village for the express purpose of killing him and his family.  I think of the very young to the very old who are murdered because of overwhelming numbers of guns (including assault rifles) flooding our country.  Yes, it happens daily because of the greed of NRA in the name of gun manufacturers.

But here?  No, Virginia, babies are not murdered at Planned Parenthood Health Centers.  Instead, violence here comes from extremists who, as in Colorado, murder bystanders in the parking lot or patients and staff inside the medical center.  Despite that, courageous doctors and nurses carry on.  They provide health care for women who arrive for medical consultations, preventive care, screenings, birth control pills.  The patient may also decide that, for her own health, an abortion, a constitutionally-sanctioned medical procedure, is necessary.

Open your eyes, Virginia, to where death really occurs.  Help ease burdens of refugee families.  After all, as Jesus taught in your Bible in Matthew 25:40, "Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  Welcome to your neighborhood someone who may not look like you.  Help prevent rampant overflow of guns across our country.  Become educated on gun safety and how it can eliminate deaths of young children.  Join the real world.  Contribute time and money to those programs that can REALLY make a difference in peoples' lives.