October is the month dedicated to the Respect for Life movement. During this month we pray for an end of abortion and an end to this culture of death in our society.I hear a lot of people say they are pro life. I am pro life too. When most people hear that phrase they think of those people being anti abortion, and that is certainly true, but it is so much more than that.
To be Pro Life means that you believe that all life is sacred from conception to natural death. So obviously abortions, mercy killings, murders, and the death penalty are things that we are against. Even though pro life is all those things it is also much more than this. Pro life celebrates all life, it desires to protect all life. It realizes that all life is a gift from God.
To respect life also means to respect the people we meet everyday, to have empathy for those who are hurting from violence or escaping war, or poverty. Respecting those people who are marginalized and mistreated and threatened because of race, color, or religion.
Because respecting life is all these things, we should be inclusive of this when we debate the abortion issue. I hate abortion, I also hate seeing Muslims being harassed and vilified because of the atrocities of the Islamic Jihads. I hate seeing the disabled made fun of, I hate crude remarks about how someone looks. I hate the violence that exist in our streets. I hate the violence between black and white.
I love all life. God has given us our lives, this good earth and all our individual talents. God is life, God is love. We are called to love each other no matter what. Yes, even those we do not like, or do not understand.
So when you are talking to me and telling me not to vote for someone because they are not pro life, keep in mind that I am looking at the whole picture. I want to see an individual run for office who encompasses all the criteria that I mentioned above.
Unfortunately, there is no one running for president with the above attributes, so I must make my decision using a different yardstick.
I don't know what the future holds, who the next president will be. I do know this. Unless we become a society that once again treats all people with a least a small degree of respect, that we become a little more compassionate to our neighbors, or take responsibility for the children that we conceive in moments of passion; unless we become life giving in our individual actions toward all people, we will never truly be a people who actually are respectful of life.
