The Dream

Every day we hear of the shootings and the violence that seem to be a constant in our society. Where did we go wrong? I believe that we have lost our sense of the value of each person. If you have any type of religious belief, it is taught to value and respect each other person. As an American, you have benefited from the Declaration of Independence. It not only states that each of us has certain unalienable rights, the first of which is life, but it also proclaims that these rights are self-evident. They do not need to be granted by a government or ruling body. Each person has an inherent dignity simply because he or she is a human being.

There are those among us who advance the idea that we are only members of a group. We are either oppressed or oppressors. Such a concept completely denies the marvelous individuality of each person. Each person is unique with a mixture of talents, background, ambitions and desires that has never occurred before and will never occur again in the future. We are in the mess we are because we have forgotten the respect that we need to show first ourselves and then each person we meet. It’s impossible to like every other person but we need to respect her or him because of their intrinsic worth.

Members of our society disagree on many things but in the history of our country it has always been so. The difference is that we have, in the past, been able to disagree, debate and argue and then respect each other, compromise and come to an agreement. We need to return to seeing each person as worthy of respect.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr stated in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech that he dreamed of the day when each person would be judged by the content of her or his character not the color of their skin. You might also add, not by their gender, political views, age, physical ability or appearance or any other external measure. People are individuals. They are not simply members of some group that has been proposed in order to rob them of their uniqueness. I share Dr. King’s dream – may it come true. It’s up to each of us to make it happen.

Abortion is the ultimate denial of the most basic of all our unalienable rights. Euthanasia, infanticide and other methods of eliminating so called imperfect or inconvenient people are all attacks on the basic rights of each person. We are all diminished by our society’s refusal to protect our most vulnerable. These actions violate the dignity given to each person by God and recognized in our Declaration of Independence. Let us all fight for a return to respect for ourselves and each other person. Now is the time.