Blog What are You Worth & the Value of Life
What type of society do we have when we applaud individuals and groups that take or advocate the taking of the lives of those unable to defend themselves?
What type of culture applauds the woman who chooses to destroy her preborn child; applauds parents who choose death for their disabled infant or severely disabled child? What kind of people have we become to stand by while relatives and guardians of severely injured or elderly patients get court approval to withdraw from their "loved ones" the basic elements of nutrition and water, relegating these helpless individuals to slow, painful deaths by starvation and deprivation?
As we stand apathetically by while the innocent and helpless are systematically terminated, we herald the belief that not only are some lives worth more than others, but also that the worth of each individual is not inherent. The value of human life depends, then, on the valuation placed on us by a fickle society. Is the cost to keep one alive more than an arbitrary valuation placed upon that person by society? Is the cost of keeping them alive and comfortable more than they are worth?
If society places the valuation, what about you and I? Do we contribute enough to pay our dues to society? For how long? Are economic criteria the best, the only, deciding factor in the decision whether or not to allow a person to live?
As the innocent are sacrificed on the altar of selfishness and the greed of materialism and personal lifestyle, where is the loving, self-sacrifice of accommodating to changing circumstances of birth or illness? Where is love, compassion, the joy of giving? Where is growth through adversity? Where is the inherent worth of a soul?
This is not the time for apathy, but for action. It is the time to cry out against crimes against the most vulnerable among us through letters, votes, action and prayer. If your candidate doesn’t believe in the inherent worth of life, that person won’t value your life either. That belief will be revealed in values and votes.
It is time to once more rejoice in the worth and dignity of each human life, that of the preborn, the disabled, the elderly, mine--yours.
(c) 1994, 2020 Carolyn R. Scheidies
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