Is hope the only thing left?

Dear Readers -

Today's Kitty-Time entry is going to be depressing, but it's weighing very heavily on my mind. First off, Valentine's Day is Wednesday, as we all know. Any real K-T reader has already thought through what she'd like to receive this Valentine's....whether it be sparkly or have a sweet scent to it....

But again, I digress.

Around Valentine's Day, we often see attention for V-Day and the Vagina Monologues. Hopefully all my dear readers have seen this play and are aware of the V-Day campaign to stop violence against women and young girls. If not, please click here:
http://www.vday.org/contents/vday/aboutvday

But what is really haunting me is an article I read in yesterday's NYT magazine about domestic violence and women seeking asylum in the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/magazine/11wwlnidealab.t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin

The article is a must-read for everyone. It is important that we all are made aware of just how ridiculous our government is and how abused women are cast-off. The crux of the problem, beyond just the hideous man occupying the White House, is that in order to seek asylum in the U.S., an immigrant has to show how his/her "social group" is persecuted. Well, if you are severely abused by your husband, is your "social group" just that you are a woman? Apparently that isn't enough and our legal system is taking its sweet time figuring it all out. Also - you know how the government doesn't like to interfere in the personal lives of people in their own homes.

Unless it's convenient, like, under the guise of eavesdropping for national security.

Anyhow, what is really haunting me is that the woman featured in the story left behind her children in India. I am not judging her - let's be clear. I cannot even pretend to understand the hell she was living thanks to her husband. But what I can't get past is how awful and how painful and how life-threatening a situation must be for a woman to abandon her children, leave the country, and never know when or if she will see her children again.

This is what hasn't stopped haunting me since I read the article. In my wildest dreams, I can't imagine how awful life must be in order for me to abandon my darling daughter. It is probably much easier for me to sit here and say I would rather die than leave her, but on the flip side, perhaps the only thing you have in this kind of hell is hope. And if you leave because that is all you can do to stay alive, perhaps the only thing you have left is the hope that you will again see your children.

I don't know. I warned you that today's entry would be a tough one. I guess all I have left to say is that it's important to read articles like this, no matter how difficult to get through, because at the end of the day, all that matters on Valentine's Day is that we have a lot to love and be grateful for.

I'll be funny again tomorrow, unless I'm still haunted by this.