More random odds and ends

I still find it facinating that our culture (the US) took steps to protect livestock before it stepped up to protect children. I'm not a supporter of church or state intervening or interfering in the home, yet I absolutely see the value of the community support network that parents, children and families need. It seems pretty clear that God placed individuals into families and into community pretty early on. It may be that in the late 1800's the government avoided intervening in homes, too. I don't know. But being part of a community that hold each other accountable for the way we care for one another (and those outside that community) requires a high level of relational trust and there's freedom that comes with that. Sadly, there remain times and a places in our culture when children need advocates and protection or perhaps family reconcilers, whenever that's possible.

I heard a speaker last night who left me wondering how close the correlation is between animal abuse and other abuse and apparently it's quite high. Understanding that it's good to go to lots of sources before you draw conclusions and understanding that a good statistician can make the numbers show anything, here's a site with (relatively) short, clear, concise interesting information. One of the things to do is to read and if any of these things have happened to you ( spanking, emotional or physical abuse (and I'm not saying they're the same) do you think their conclusions are valid?

There's probably some good material out there through Christian publishing but here is also a short and interesting article about compassion burn-out. I'm just posting it here because I ran across it and it's short and it's probably as applicable to people working with people as to those working with animals or for anyone tackling the marriage of mercy and justice where someone is saved out of an oppressive situation and offered a new start.