Just because most women stayed home back then doesn't mean they were any happier than women are today. In earlier years, women were told to stay with abusive husbands often because divorce was seen as a failure, and women were told that any abuse was their own fault. Years ago there were no such thing as the shelters that are available now for women to escape abuse. An older friend once told me when she tried to tell her own mother about the abuse she was suffering at the hands of her first husband, her mother told it was her role as a woman to be a good wife, and not talk about such things.

Having the choice of whether to attend college, whether to work, and even reproductive choice and more understanding of their own bodies mean women have more control over their lives than before. How they choose to exercise that control is up to them, and while we may not agree with them, I do think having choice is better than having no choice.

I know that my family history is not exactly typical. Women in my family have been expected to go to college for several generations. My Great Aunt Evelyn was a high school principal when basically women weren't supposed to have that kind of job, and certainly a MARRIED woman was not supposed to. My mother was amongst only the second class of women allowed in her college, now Clark University, because with the war going on, if they wanted a student body, they figured they had to make the change.

I had one professor, when I was in college, fretting one day that her daughter was going to be permanently harmed psychologically because she chose to go back to work, which meant that her daughter attended day care a few days a week. I told her that I did not feel "psychologically harmed" and I went to someone's house for day care when my mother worked, and I thought it was fun. She looked at me like I was some sort of otherworldly creature ... but then realized that indeed, I was probably one of the more stable of the students in her classroom.

Life changes, for better or for worse. How we deal with those changes is what matters. And taking responsibility for our choices is a good thing, I think. And I know plenty of good, responsible parents raising children today, thank you. And not just my own family, I wasn't even thinking of them when I typed that sentence.

Being kind, being a good example, working hard and caring for those who need it - pets, animals and people - these are not unheard of. They may not make the news, but these people exist.

I have known since childhood that it's a good thing I am alive today. 200 years ago, my near-sightedness would likely have had me confined to a chair, or I'd wander off a cliff by accident. My asthma would have been unmanaged. I would have been regarded as frail, even if I had lived to grow up! Go to any old cemetery, and look carefully, notice how many children died before age 5. And before age 12. I am glad I am alive now, thanks!