Respect Life Flier
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The events of September 11,
2001 showed humanity at its worst and its best. We saw acts of terrible
depravity and, in response to them, acts of true nobility. How can people
behave in such radically different ways? The answer may be in the way we
choose to look at human life.
One view says that human life has no
inherent value or dignity. It is a thing to be used; its worth measured by its
usefulness to others. The other view maintains that every human life has
immeasurable worth. Human beings are made in God"s image and likeness, each
unique and irreplaceable. They may not be used as means to another"s ends "
rather, they are ends in themselves.
The men who plotted the September
attacks showed contempt for life. Innocent people were seen as nameless,
faceless targets for destruction. The terrorists were blind to their victims"
worth as unique individuals, as loving fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters.
Their only value was as fodder to fuel a war against modern society. The
"masterminds" treated even the hijackers themselves as pawns, sacrificing them
without apparent remorse.
Compare this disdain for life with the
attitude of rescue personnel and employees who struggled to help others
evacuate the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and those brave passengers
who forced a plane to crash in Pennsylvania thereby saving countless other
lives. Their acts of heroism expressed a conviction that every human life "
even the lives of strangers " is precious. Many willingly risked, and lost,
their lives. Not because they failed to value their own lives, but because
they knew there is no greater love than to offer one"s life to save
others.
Recall some of the New York Times" "Portraits of Grief"
memorializing victims of the World Trade Center attack:
Abe"s brother
said he "could never turn his back on another human being." He refused to
abandon a paraplegic colleague in the burning towers and died alongside
him.
As a child, one firefighter was "always bringing home someone who
needed a meal, or who needed a coat." His mother was not surprised to find a
stack of "letters to Santa" in his apartment; every year he anonymously
delivered the hoped-for gifts to poor children.
Eric"s motto was "Do
the right thing." When not on rescue squad duty, he was a "ubiquitous, modest
"Mr. Fix-It" for friends and the elderly" in his Brooklyn
neighborhood.
Father Mychal Judge gave his life praying with victims at
the scene. His midtown Franciscan friary door was always open to anyone in
need. Give him a cashmere sweater, said a friend, "and it would wind up on the
back of a homeless person. Go to him with a troubled soul and he would listen
intently as long as it took."
These ordinary people are remembered for
doing simple things with great love. And whether they knew it or not, they
were helping to build a culture of life in which indifference, violence,
bigotry and injustice have no place.
Speaking to young people in
Kazakhstan last year, John Paul II set forth the central idea of this culture
of life: "You are a thought of God. You are a heartbeat of God. To say this is
like saying that you have a value ... that is infinite, that you matter to God
in your complete unique individuality."
Our lives can matter very much
to other people, too. By loving and living for others " as Jesus taught us to
do " we can give joy to others and transform their lives.
The September
11 terrorists were not the first, and they won"t be the last, to hold the
mistaken view that human life has no intrinsic worth, that it is only material
to be used and discarded. This dangerous assumption underlies so many of the
ways our culture de-humanizes people:
- many see unborn children as property that a mother can "keep" or abort
as suits her situation
- in Oregon, the frail elderly and dying are subtly encouraged to consider
doctor-assisted suicide to avoid becoming "burdens" on family and
society
- in The Netherlands, euthanasia is both legal and commonplace; depressed
teens and babies born with non-life-threatening conditions like Down
syndrome are eligible
- one hears supporters of the death penalty complain about the cost of
"keeping killers alive" as if the prisoners were no longer human beings with
souls that may open to God"s grace and seek the mercy on which we all depend
- human embryos "left over" from in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments
can be tossed out or frozen for future attempts; some scientists use these
"left over" embryos in destructive research, with some even arguing that
using human embryos reduces the need for animal research
- scientists and research groups are demanding that they be allowed to
create live human embryos just to destroy them for stem cell research; some
even want to pursue human cloning, claiming that "without cloning, there
will be no cures using embryonic stem cells."
Many people support
research using embryonic stem cells and cloning, hoping it will lead to cures
for paralysis and diseases for which no treatment is known. But none of these
practices is needed to produce cures. Stem cells from adult tissue and
umbilical cord blood, as well as other new therapies, have helped or cured
hundreds of thousands of patients, including those with Parkinson"s, Type I
diabetes, multiple sclerosis, "bubble boy" syndrome, heart disease and other
conditions recently thought "incurable."
From abortion, to assisted
suicide, to the destruction of "spare" embryos, to creating life simply to
destroy it, we have come a long way toward seeing fellow human beings as
faceless burdens or as "things" to be used.
Reversing this attitude
will not happen overnight. But it is no exaggeration to say the future of
humanity depends on it. A society in which new human lives can be engineered,
created, manipulated and destroyed as mere research material is not a society
that can appreciate the unique gift of each human person.
A culture of
life " where every human life is protected, respected and celebrated " begins
with a personal decision to respect the dignity of others. But it will take
much more than that. We must bear this culture to others through our words and
actions, and work for public policies that support human life and human
dignity. Above all, we must pray.
In all these efforts, we must never
forget the examples of ordinary men and women who have borne heroic witness to
the sanctity and dignity of human life. And we must remember always how
precious and precarious God"s gift of life truly is.
__________________________
Secretariat for
Pro-Life Activities
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211
4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202)
541-3070