By Laura Kizior
At the beginning of the year, millions of Americans make resolutions for the coming year. These are usually lifestyle changes to encourage healthy living. Some people start a new diet, while others give up a bad habit—all to jumpstart the new year and continue the goal of developing personality and character.
New Year’s resolutions for your personal life are great goals, but what if this year you also made a commitment to human beings? Here are some ways that you can use 2018 to renew your commitment to protecting and defending all of God’s children from creation until death.
March
There isn’t a better way to start off the new year than by attending the annual March for Life, this year on January 19 in Washington, DC. The March for Life is the largest, longest-running annual peaceful protest in the world. Despite the cold January weather, the March draws more than 500,000 protestors annually, and more than half of them are under the age of 30.
If you can’t travel to our nation’s capital this year, find a local March for Life during the month of January in a large city near you. Don’t forget to watch for American Life League and the Culture of Life Studies Program at the 2018 March for Life Conference and Expo in DC!
Evangelize
During the year, there are many different kinds of evangelization opportunities for families and students to show their solidarity with preborn babies and other marginalized people in society. Make a commitment to preach the gospel of life in a different way each month this year.
Participate in a national event like National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day, National Pro-Life Chalk Day, or National Pro-Life Cupcake Day. Use your creativity to show others the respect due to human beings in your community through your actions, attitude, words, and kindness to others.
Give
An essential part of living the culture of life is making sacrifices for others in need and respecting human dignity. Volunteer your time with your children and students. Pregnancy resource centers are always in need of compassionate volunteers to help their clients feel welcome, safe, and loved.
If you prefer to be more behind the scenes, these centers also need help sorting through clothes and baby gear! Always reach out to post-abortive women or women in difficult pregnancies with love and compassion. Need more ways? Try this list of ideas to build the culture of life in your own community this year.
Educate
A culture of life cannot be built without educating others about respect for all human beings.
Give copies of the Miracle of Life Coloring & Activity Book to your children, grandchildren, religious education class, local pregnancy resource center, or school. Donate copies of Life Is Precious to your parish library or elementary school. Watch and discuss Who Was the Real Margaret Sanger? with your teens.
Use our library of pro-life eLessons in your home, classroom, or homeschool to teach your kids pro-life basics.
Explore pro-life themes in books and movies with your family. Download one of our free discussion guides to make the most of the books and movies your family loves.
Building a culture of life in 2018 doesn’t have to be complicated. The commitment to defending every human being needs to be serious, simple, and renewed every single day. If we are going to see an end to the threats to life, every single person must reexamine his own life and see what he can do with his own talents to uplift those who have been wounded, and speak up for those who have no one to defend them.
What will you do in 2018 to build a culture of life?
Laura Kizior is a content developer for American Life League’s Culture of Life Studies Program, which stresses the culture of life as an integral part of every academic discipline. CLSP is dedicated to helping students become effective communicators of the pro-life message. Sign up for our e-mail newsletter to see how we can help you foster a culture of life at home and in school.