Dignity Moments

Those who work towards a culture of life often speak of the dignity of the human person. Something about the human person gives him or her a special dignity above the animals. Humans are made in the very image and likeness of God. For this reason, the dignity of the human person must be protected.

The culture of death disregards the dignity of the human person. Followers of the culture of death kill unwanted children and elderly, through abortion and euthanasia. They exploit other human persons through pornography and forced labor. The culture of death works in more subtle ways as well, through the clothing people wear, through the attitudes shown in movies and television, and even through the way people view others in general.

Those who aspire to a culture of life may see the beauty in the idea of the dignity of the human person, but may forget this in their everyday lives. We may catch ourselves using others instead of loving others. In a store, we may only look at the employees in terms of how they can help us, and not in terms of their human dignity and how we can help them. We may be unnecessarily rude or cold towards people who may need our kindness and love. We may look to members of the opposite sex for our own pleasures and desires, and forget that we are looking at someone made in the image and likeness of God, with the same dignity that we have.

At these times, we must challenge ourselves to what I will call dignity moments. We must step back and appreciate the value and dignity of that person, and look to see if we are truly loving and respecting that person as we should be, or if we are simply using that person for our own selfish ends.

This will not be easy, and we cannot do it alone. We must support each other, and hold each other accountable. If we see our brothers and sisters failing to respect each other as persons, even in small ways, we need to call each other on the carpet for it. We should not do this out of arrogance, but with humility and love. Encourage your friends to call you on the carpet when you make mistakes, otherwise, we will not change. A culture of death surrounds us; subconsciously we slip into patterns of the culture of death. And if we cannot correct the small things in our own lives, how will we ever be able to correct the large?