I've been thinking. And thinking. And thinking!
We all need some thinking time every now and then, right?
Most of my thoughts are either not yet in write-able form, or they just aren't blog-worthy. But I won't leave you totally hanging. Here are a few passing thoughts from the day.
Apparently, there's a new Harry Potter movie out. Am I the only one who doesn't care? Like, at all? I'm not being judgmental of those who do care, but I guess I feel the pressure of American pop culture breathing down my neck, making me feel that, perhaps, I should care. I don't often find myself with the time or money to go to the movie theatre anyway, but if I did, I'd want to see something else. That's all. Don't lynch me, Harry Potter lovers of the world!
There were lots of other thoughts, but one disturbed me a bit, and I think I should mention it. Every now and then I take a look through my blog stats, which show phrases people searched for that directed them to my blog, countries people viewed from, and referring links. Today, for the second time, I noticed that someone ended up at Coffee Talk from a link that seems to be a porn site from Russia. I mean, I'm definitely not going to click the link to verify that information, but that's definitely what it seems to be.
I guess I mention this for a few reasons. 1. Porn is a huge problem, not just in the US, but throughout the world, and many people struggle with an addiction to pornography in solitude and darkness. 2. Some people don't see porn as a problem at all, and that is even more disturbing. 3. Seeing the referring link one time could have been coincidence, but twice makes me think that perhaps there's a person, maybe a Catholic or someone interested in the faith, who has ended up at my blog on more than one occasion. How and why, I don't know, but I want everyone reading this to know that pornography is evil; it does not truly satisfy whatever deep longings a person has, and in fact, can only make them worse by degrading other people and desensitizing the person who becomes a voyeur to what should be the most private aspects of another person or people.
However, pornography is a rather easy and powerful trap to fall into these days, and the person viewing internet pornography is not intrinsically evil, even though the pornography itself is. I would strongly recommend that anyone who is struggling with a possible addiction to pornography speak with a counselor or someone else who is trained to help with these kind of problems. Also, you cannot turn away from something successfully without embracing something else, so in turning away from the darkness, turning toward and embracing a deeper life of faith can be a very helpful and necessary source of divine assistance, grace, hope, and healing. Mercy, grace, hope, redemption, and conversion are possible for all of us. Always.
I really do thank each of you for stopping by, and I do sincerely keep all of my readers in my prayers. St. Maximilian Kolbe, patron saint of addictions and families, please pray for us!
Peace and all good,
Leslie
I don't care about HP either. One of the swimming teachers asked his class if they were going to see the movie. They all said no. Now, this young man is a teen. His students were about 7-9 years younger than he. He asked why not and one kid yelled out, "Harry Potter sucks." I was appalled that a young child would use that word. The teach was appalled that someone would dis Harry. I spoke to the teacher briefly and he said there have been HP movies for most of his life and now they are at the end. It made sense to me.
ReplyDeleteWhat awesome encouraging words about combating porn. I love St Maximilian Kolbe. I am old enough to remember when he was canonized. I remember being really awestruck about his story and the canonization.