The Women's Empowerment Group

Paschal's Wager is a suggestion posed by French philosopher writer and mathematician, Blaise Paschal, that clearly rationalizes (for me) our belief in Christ.  Paschal believed that in deciding on accepting religion we must first view it as a wager, betting on the fact that God exist and if he doesn't we lose nothing. If he doesn't we have lived a life that is guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ and we have lived as though we have faith, we have also lived an enriched life that is based primarily on love. Some may argue that this rationalization is far-fetched and that they cannot place all of their belief in something or someone that they can not see and that the teachings are merely dogma that people use to hide behind. But for me --I'd rather hide behind love than not--I'd rather be guided by principles that enrich my life than not. What is the alternative? living a empty shell of a life that anything goes and that is guided by our own insatiable whims. Wel

Pauline Respress, BAS, M.Ed., I have come to know that when life does not reach up to meet us, we must reach down to meet it. Then take all that we know to-- create a synergy, that forges a bond between what is and what we would like to see for our lives. It is a balancing act that requires staying in the present while still dreaming. Life is hard and at times requires that we grab hold to the hustler that lies in all of us. That is the part of us that fights against all odds, that takes a bleak situation and turns it into an opportunity. I was born and raised in the heart of North Philly, the ghetto--and one thing that I learned from the hood --was no matter what the situation looked like, the goal was always to survive--to move from nothing to something. If you are cold and hungry then you find heat--you find food. This upbringing taught me to always find a solution, no matter the situation--to always survive against any odds. I can remember in the early years standing in a li

Pauline Respress, BAS, M.ED., The more I love the more I realize that when I remove caring what happens to you from the equation of LOVING, I am able to love you even more deeper, even more unconditionally. When we care too much about what happens to the people that we love-- we stifle the natural flow of experiences and turn our love into conditional love. We all are destined to have experiences that lead us to a deeper place in ourselves. And when we care too much we can turn innocent love into conditional love-- ie., If______ would only_______ I could feel ______. Love should be unconditional and no matter what a person experiences, it should not affect how much we still love them. We all have experiences that we must go through and when we love, our job is to love you no matter what our mate experiences. We must separate our feelings or needs from the equation of loving someone. We are responsible for taking care of our own needs, when we combine our needs with loving another