Not the Ruler!!!!

I watched a movie, based on actual events, the other evening that completely made me cringe. The movie was about nuns, of all things. I know you’re asking yourself “what’s so bad about nuns?” Believe me when I tell you that compared to the completely vile film I watched last night about the last 10 days of Hitler’s life inside his bunker ( Der untergang), the nuns left a much more sour taste in my mouth. These poor girls were turned over to nuns in Ireland for being promiscuous, having children out of wedlock, or just plain flirting. This wasn’t like being giving up… these girls were told when they arrived that it was up to Mother Superior when they would be released, they couldn’t just leave when they reached adulthood. The girls slept in dormitories with 20-50 others; they woke at dawn to go to mass, ate breakfast (gruel), and were then forced to work in laundries, where they were not even permitted to speak, for absolutely no pay. They were locked in the convent and watched constantly. They were beaten and humiliated on a daily basis by the nuns themselves. The only way a girl could leave is if they were released (which didn’t happen) or if a family member claimed them. It sounds simple enough- but sometimes the families had no idea where their daughters were or what happened to them since a priest or member of the church could place them. If a girl acted out to often or too badly she might be committed to the sanatorium where she would rot for the rest of her life. Doesn’t sound all that uncommon for the time right? But what time are we talking about? Did you think I was talking about the early 1900s? I’m sorry, no, this actually took place in over a dozen convents for 180 years spanning all the way to 1996 when the last laundry closed, with the movie taking place in the 1950s/60s. In a time where in the rest of the modern world females were expressing themselves freely in every manner imaginable, these girls were being punished excessively for batting their eyelashes in the general direction of a male. Obviously I can’t even pretend to know anything about Irish laws or rights, it just seems so wrong. This all got me thinking- what if American girls faced harsher consequences for their promiscuous actions we wouldn’t have such a high teenage/young adult birth rate. I don’t care what anyone says- no one should have a child at 16! I don’t think anyone is ever REALLY ready for kids, but you’re certainly not at 16. My best friend, Katie, got pregnant her sophomore year in college. When she asked my opinion on what she should do, I told her- very bluntly, that I thought it would be selfish of her to even consider having it. I asked her how her child could possibly ever benefit from having a 20 year old mother who had yet to graduate college, who had never worked full time a day in her life, and who was still in party mode? What would happen the day her child asked her about their daddy? What would she say? Would she be honest and say “I was 20 sleeping with my 30 year old PROFESSOR, we weren’t in love, we didn’t have any feelings for each other except for lust and we never spoke outside of class again”? That’s devastating for a kid. She had an abortion a week after she found out. She says it was the best decision she could have made. She said it is easier to live with the “what ifs” than it would be to regret a human being. She made the mistake of telling me that if she and her current boyfriend of 3 years were to get pregnant that she would keep it. BIG mistake. That’s when I went on the “have you lost your fucking mind?!?” rant. Her situation hadn’t really changed- yeah she was working full time because she had dropped out of school, and she’s with someone that she loves and they live alone… in a 400 sqft shoebox… but the money situation hadn’t changed and it’s selfish to ask the government and taxpayers to pay for your kid when you KNEW before you even got pregnant that you couldn’t afford it. That’s just my opinion though… now go watch The Magdalene Sisters.