Two real role models for women to emulate

With the rapid rise in chaos we're seeing all around - e.g. terrorism, Christian genocide, freshly deceased babies for sale, gender confusion (Facebook offers new participants over 50 choices on gender in setting up their profile), etc., -- I can't help but feel nostalgic for simpler times. For my dad, that would be the 1950's. I can definitely get on board with that from what I know of the decade, though I don't have a personal reference. For me, simpler times could be the 1980s - my teenaged years. 

I know we had strife then too of course, e.g.,- Roe v. Wade was being put to rampant use, AIDS made its public debut, dangerous drug use was on the rise, and plenty of other examples, but I was largely sheltered from it in the sense that these things weren't celebrated like they seem to be today. It's almost as if having a "problem" is a desirable thing today and there are no shortages of public funds, public parades and public protests in support of the very things we were taught to avoid because they just weren't good for us - or were just wrong. 

Today, telling someone something is wrong or immoral is wrong in itself. How can young people today be expected to make good choices when they are being coddled in their bad choices? How are young people encouraged to make good choices when they see demands for boycotts, firing and fines for those who do try to stand up for what's right? What kind of leadership today is inspiring young people to make moral choices, the kind of choices that are not necessarily the easiest to make, but are better for them? 

That's the other thing that stood out for me in the 80s: that for a good portion of the decade, we also had what I consider the trifecta of good leadership: Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and Margaret Thatcher. With their character, courage and unwavering leadership, having the three of them at the helm of their respective posts made me feel secure despite what was going on in the world. 

There was one other person also doing remarkable things at this time who I would become familiar with a bit later: Mother Angelica, the foundress of EWTN, the global Catholic media network,who just passed away on Easter Sunday of this year. I remember sometimes thinking of Mother Angelica as the "religious version of Thatcher" and how I admired both women as authentic role models. 

How our world could use more women like them. The strength of character exhibited by both Thatcher and Mother Angelica is what inspires me and should inspire all of us. That's why when I came across this article from Fr. Dwight Longenecker, I wanted to share it:

Father writes, "Here’s what I liked best about both Mother Angelica and Margaret Thatcher:

They both beat the liberals at their own game. In an age when feminists were burning their bras Margaret Thatcher had her hair done, put on her hats and grabbed her handbag. Mother Angelica not only kept her habit, but reverted to a more traditional habit. When the feminists were protesting about inequality and being suppressed by a patriarchal male club, Margaret Thatcher stepped up and took control of that club. Mother Angelica did the same in her attacks on the elitist liberal Catholic bishop’s club.

Both women were from lower middle class or working class backgrounds so they had their finger on the pulse of ordinary people. Margaret Thatcher came in with a housewife’s approach to economics and Mother Angelica applied good housekeeping common sense to the establishment of her media empire. Both women were feisty, gutsy, no nonsense women who knew how to cut the bull and get something done.

Behind the scenes both Margaret Thatcher and Mother Angelica knew what it was to suffer personal loss, but both came through their difficulties with more resilience, backbone and determination.

Beneath the particularities of battle, both women saw the lies of liberalism and realized that the true way forward was not by following some ideology, but by following the truth.

Liberal ideologues in both the UK and the American Catholic Church literally hated both women...during Thatcher’s years the protests against her were violent, personal and extremely ugly. Likewise, the people who hated Mother Angelica and EWTN did not disguise their hatred.

Both women rose above it, and one of the things that annoyed the leftists the most was that they did so with the true support of the ordinary men and women. Leftist ideologues imagine that they stand up for the ordinary working men and women, so when the ordinary working men and women reject them and their ideologies they become even more furious. When a charismatic leader truly champions the cause of the ordinary people in the voting booth and pew, and when their voices (either through votes or viewing figures) are heard, the ideologues howl with rage.

'Those kind of people' are supposed to be rich, white, male establishment types. When they turned out to be a grocer’s daughter and the daughter of a poor divorced working class woman, the class stereotypes didn’t fit. Instead through their common sense attachment to truth, determination, hard work, sense of humor, intelligence and grit, both women challenged the 'rich, white, male establishment types' and won through for the common sense men and women of the world.

God rest both their souls and may we have more of them."

Amen to that.