An Answer to Anonymous

"Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit."

I need to blog about this, because it's still REALLY bothering me. I received the anonymous comment below to a recent post. As a rule, I don't post anonymous comments (I think they're cowardly) but I really wanted to respond to what this person said, so I did post it. I'm sure there might be some of you who agree with anonymous, but I do not. At all. Not one tiny bit. And I felt it was an important enough issue to address, so cut & paste her comment & my response here:

Anonymous said, about my post Your Prayers are Needed:
"Please..You are putting yourself and your daughter in grave danger by inserting yourself in this womans life.For your daughters sake remove yourself from this situation ASAP! Your daughters safety is your priority.."
10:05 PM

Here is what I wish I could say to her face to face:

"Anonymous, I am only posting your comment so you may see my answer. As a rule, I do not post anonymous comments. However, as you left no other way of contacting you, here is my answer to your comment:I will NEVER ever let fear stand in the way of helping others. I'm not stupid. I have many family members and friends who spent their lives in law enforcement (including my Dad.) I know what is safe and what is not. But to deny this woman help and friendship simply because her husband is making verbal threats is cowardly and selfish to me. You are entitled to choose otherwise, but please do not post your fears on my blog. If I wrote a post asking for opinions on the matter, I would understand your comment a little more. But I didn't ask for anyone's opinion on the matter and I never will. I asked for PRAYERS, and only from those who would choose to offer them.

I live my life according to my personal beliefs and I happen to think that caring for another human being, however uncomfortable or scary it might be, is the highest good. My daughter is safe, thank you, and she is learning incredible life lessons thru this experience, lessons about doing unto others, about caring for those less fortunate, about true love and compassion, and about how WE EACH can make a difference in this world, if we just STEP PAST OUR FEARS and do the right thing. I am sorry our situation scares you. It does NOT scare me, or my daughter. What lesson would she learn from seeing her mother walk away from a situation God had laid in her lap - A chance to really help someone? Not the lesson I would have her learn. I ask God to give me chances to help others, and when He gives me these chances, I will embrace them and trust HIM. Perfect Love casts out fear. I choose Love over Fear."

So I ask you all....

If we do not step out of our comfort zone to help others, who will? How can any one of us lament the state of things in our world and yet sit idly by, waiting for someone else to clean up the mess? I don't get it, I never will. I choose to live a messy, sometimes painful, sometimes confusing life. I CHOOSE it. I choose it!!!! Would life be less stressful if I walked away from people like N? Hell, yes. But I won't. My Dad taught me to never walk away from anything. He taught me to face things head on, and get my hands dirty. God bless him for that.

You know what? I think I'm grateful that anonymous wrote, because she has now inspired me to write about all the other experiences in my life that I have not walked away from. I've had lots of people like anonymous in my life - people who tell me "Please don't do that! It's dangerous/scary/ not your business/ fill-in-the-blank with your excuse here". I take those moments as chances to educate those people about their own ignorance. So, thanks , anonymous. I now plan to blog about this all week.

Hope you have strong stomachs, people :)