Towards a better world

Regardless of what both candidates might want us to believe, change begins with us. To that end, I've been reading a lot lately about a movement out of the Catholic Church (USA) towards a Sanctity of Life. The idea is a profound one - that before we can simply embrace an end to abortion, we must adhere to an idea that ALL LIFE is sacred - not just the life in the womb. I think this idea has resonated with me because although I've been labeled pro-choice my entire life, I've really been pro-sanctity of life my entire life.

The way I see it is that we'd be hypocritical indeed to just ban abortion without also addressing the very real problems of what happens to all humans after they're born. While I recognize that all life is sacred, I certainly don't feel comfortable forcing others to conform to my beliefs. But I would feel differently if I felt that society wasn't just claiming that life was sacred, while doing everything in its power to show that it was otherwise. It seems that if you're going to claim that life is sacred, then you can't advocate the taking of life whenever it suits your other needs or fears. You can't be pro-life and pro-death penalty, for instance. Or pro-life and pro-war. Those things, in my opinion, don't mix. However, to balance that, I'm wondering whether such a sanctity of life movement can really work or if I'm just being naive. Is it possible to live in a world where all life really is sacred? And, if so, what sort of world might that be?

I'm not convinced that Jesus wanted us to create an equitable society where everyone had equal opportunities to succeed and such, but I do think that Jesus was interested in creating a just society where goodness and mercy thrived and evil and condemnation did not. Amongst the very basics, to create such a world, I think we'd need to address the issues of adoption and foster care for all unwanted children. They need to be able to grow up - if not equally - then certainly safely. I've heard so many horror stories about orphanages and foster homes that I wouldn't condemn the worst child on the planet into such a state as a punishment, much less an entire generation of unborn children. Education is, naturally, a priority - though I'm not sure we need to provide a college level education to every child. Health care for all is a good idea (even if its just the basics of a place to go when you're sick and dying) and not necessarily a separate issue. And, of course, there's the real question of capitol punishment. These are all aspects of the Right to Life debate, but I'm not sure they all have solutions.

What I'd like to do is invite anyone and everyone who would like to leave a civil comment to address what they would do to make this a better world if they could just snap their fingers and make things happen. It seems to me if we could at least agree upon what sort of world we want, then the matter of figuring out how to get there should be much easier to address.