By Jack Patty, grade 6
Everyone should be pro-life and oppose the culture of death. The future of humanity depends on it. Being pro-life means opposing abortion and euthanasia and being part of the culture of life. The culture of life describes a way of life based upon the belief that human life at all stages from conception through natural death is sacred. The culture of death is when you do not believe that all life is sacred, for example how the Nazis thought that the Jews were less than human.
All life is sacred because it comes from God; God knows us before we are born and when our natural death will occur. God tells us that in the Bible (Psalm 139:13-16): “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know. My bones are not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me unformed; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.”
I am pro-life because I believe that all life is sacred and everyone should have a chance to live. I show that I am pro-life by respecting everyone no matter what religion or nationality or age. I pray for people to make the right decisions on abortion and euthanasia. When I visited the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. last spring, I had the chance to see the dangers of not treating all life as sacred and being part of the culture of death. There was one room full of the shoes of those whom the Nazis executed and I was horrified at what had happened as a result of the Nazis not being part of the culture of life. We can even see this in modern times where religious warfare and discrimination continue, showing that we all need to work together to stop the culture of death.
We can all be part of the culture of life by going to church, spreading the good news of God, and giving to the poor. We can include everyone in the things we do and not discriminate. We can also speak up when we see people who are acting as part of the culture of death, for example, by being mean and not respecting people. Sometimes it is not easy to be pro-life or to stand up against the culture of death, but we need to because silence will not change people’s actions.
I want everyone to be pro-life because our future depends on it. If people are not pro-life, then they will eventually become part of the culture of death and the disrespect between religions, races, and ages will continue. That will lead to conflict and potentially wars.
Let us all thank God for the gift of life!
Jack Patty won third place in Category 1 of this year’s Pro-Life Essay Contest sponsored by the Culture of Life Studies Program and IEW.
This article has been reprinted with permission and can be found at cultureoflifestudies.com/2018-essay-contest/category-1-third-place-jack-patty.
