[WonderlandAlli]

All I can do is interpret the things you write, this is the Internet where there is no tone of voice to lean on.

You have your opinions on people who choose to become soldiers, and I am free to disagree, because the idea that my friends who joined the armed forces were raised without love for others is so incorrect to me. They can love their neighbor, and at the same time, know that their neighbor doesn't necessarily love them, and make themselves prepared to defend themselves from that unloving neighbor. This is exactly what I see my friends as having done, because I know what kind of open people they are. I can't bear to think what would happen to the USA if we suddenly disbanded our armies and navies and such because war is bad, we'd get trampled and conquered by other countries so fast... And we didn't need parents to tell us to fear the people that wish us harm, its basic survival and the reality of 9/11 made sure my generation knew that the threat to survival was real.

And this is supposed to be a thread on birth control, and I think difference of opinion needs to be agreed and get the thread back on topic. I don't want to talk about 9/11 anymore, or what you may think of my friends and their decisions.

"My feeling is that if the people in the countries where there are so many of them are dying of AIDS for instance were eating a more balanced diet, much less meat and sugar in those hot tropical regions, then their desire to have sex might lessen enough to make it easier for them to practice abstinence and therefore lessen the spread of that terrible disease."

There's just so much that goes into each of those countries individual situations... mass mono-agriculture, selling everything to bigger countries to try and bring in income, but those bigger companies won't pay anything but the least they can get away with, the lack of medical care, the lack of their government's accountability on what happens with aid money... Plus I read that someone had started a rumor that sex with a virgin cures aids, so there was an increase in rapes in Africa for that very reason, which spread aids...

There's so much more than diet that goes into it, they're very desperate people caught in a desperate situation, and even those that don't have aids are still trying to keep living. Part of human instincts is to reproduce, sex is a natural occurrence and people aren't gonna just stop doing it, especially when they are desperate as the people in these countries are to survive, when they have children that are dieing, each child they have that does live is a victory.

Just because its a solution doesn't mean people will do it. My sister in law is lactose intolerant but she'll eat ice cream anyway, knowing what kind of cramps she'll get later. The pleasure of the ice cream at the time she has it feels better than she anticipates the pain of the cramps will be. That's the same thing that sex is for many desperate people, its a small pleasure they won't give up, even though they know its safer and better for them to do so because of their health, or because they know they will only pass on poor health to the partners they have.

"Please understand that when I say that poor people who cannot provide a balanced dietary and social environment for their children should be encouraged to practice abstinence, I'm not saying that they should be forced to do so."

I believe you, just note that before you only said they should practice, not that they should be encouraged to practice, and so that's all I could interpret from your statement. And I'm sure there are plenty of programs all over the world of people encouraging abstinence.

Many religions are suggesting that their followers not practice birth control but the are not forcing their followers to obey them, so for the same token, grown parents and educators could encourage children and young adults to practice abstinence without using force.

Obviously, that alone doesn't work. The statistics in teen pregnancy in America shows that, you can suggest they abstain all you want, that won't stop them. I'd rather see them able to go to the nurses office and say I need a condom, and receive it, so they can avoid pregnancy and protect themselves at some level from STDs, than be denied it and told they need to just not do it at all. Because if they want it, they're gonna find some way to get away with it. In a way similar to teens looking to deal with their raging hormones, impoverished people need a way out of their desperation. Most people (regardless of income) live heavily within the ego and if the ego is unhappy, it's gonna latch onto whatever smaller things add to a bit of happiness, even if it only causes more desperation later. So if that ends up being sex, then they're not gonna give it up just because you tell them its a bad idea. It's a decision they have to determine for themselves, to take care of themselves or not. (Because they're not gonna care about eating fruits and veggies anyway if they don't already have the desire to take care of themselves.)

I don't know if I am angry as you say or am bitter.

Please explain the basis for what you have said.

All I can say is that its how the wording you used seemed to me.