This is Edgar. He's three months old, weighs 6.5 pounds, lives in Guatemala and as I rocked him in my arms today, realized he may die.
Edgar's mother is very poor. She lives in a mud house with a dirt floor. Her hus
band used to get drunk and beat her with his fists. She has no job. No hope. She came to the nutritional center hoping for help or milk for her baby as she could not breast feed.As I held Edgar in my arms, thinking of all the starving babies I've met in my travels, some who have died, some who made it, I got pretty upset.
And angry. I got angry thinking about how some people chose to get upset over things that aren't worth getting angry about, how it is none of their business.
I thought about the whole Judy Mays craziness, over a woman who is said to be a great teacher and yet, is lambasted for writing erotic romance in her spare time. I don't know Judy, only that she is a fellow romance author and like me, she works a full-time job in addition to writing romance. She's a high school teacher. Unless you have lived under a rock, you must know how challenging it is these days to teach high school kids.
Judy writes erotic romance under another name. Some of those parents found out, started going a little nuts and suddenly, there is a hue and cry.
As I sat rocking Edgar in my arms, wondering if he would live or die, I wondered why there isn't a hue and cry over things like babies starving to death in other countries.
Do we care? I know Americans do, we are very generous. I'm always humbled and hopeful when I find out how very generous Americans are when it comes to helping the poor.
Yet when I hear of parents complaining about things like Judy writing erotic romance, under ANOTHER NAME, and teaching their children, I wonder.
Edgar's mother is poor. She has no job, bruises from her abusive husband, no money, a starving baby and little hope.
And I wonder... would you care if his mother wrote erotic romance? Would you care if she did and it saved his life?
