Every Human Life Has Value

Our society has gone from valuing the individual to valuing what each individual can contribute. We debate quality of life rather than the intrinsic value of life. The further our culture moves away from its Judeo-Christian foundation, the more it tends to devalue human life and the more culture manufactures a quality of life index.

After all, as evolutionists point out, we are merely the product of evolutionary processes with little or no intrinsic value simply because we are human life. Some even question whether human life is of more value than a horse or a cow or an endangered tree. Our quality of life depends upon not who we are, but what we offer society as though life were some sort of trade off.

But this nation, and this people, was founded on the belief that we, that human life, does matter; that God created a world in which every human life has meaning, and each person, regardless of size, age, or physical abilities, regardless of what some would term "quality of life, has the right to be alive and free.

Over the last couple of decades, human life has become more and more expendable descending into the realm of that nebulous term "quality of life." The news media has reported stories of parents killing their own handicapped children instead of loving and caring for them as long as they live. Why? Because they decided the quality of life, whatever it might have been or regardless of how precious that life was to that child, was not enough to maintain their parental role of love, security and protection.

Others have taken the life of another when they considered the person to be suffering too much. Another quality of life determination. Still others have taken their own life when they could not face life without all their abilities. A reflection, maybe, on how others value our quality of life? Life itself seems to be of little value on the quality of life scale.

What would have happened if these people had given up or society decided they weren't worth keeping alive and decided their quality of life did not entitle them to live?

A husband and wife with serious health problems are expecting another child, yet three of their four children also have serious health problems. Today, many would have suggested abortion for this latest pregnancy. But, if that baby had been aborted because his quality of life didn't look promising, generations would never have been inspired by the music of composer Ludwig von Beethoven.

What about a poor, thirteen-year-old black child carrying the product of rape? Surely, this baby should be aborted. What possible future, what quality of life, would there possibly be for this child? The future was Ethel Waters who inspired millions by her story, her acting and her blues and gospel music, which included "Stormy Weather" and "His Eye is on the Sparrow."

Polio paralyzed Walt Davis when he was nine years old. If his parents had decided his quality of life meant they should let him die, he never would have become the Olympic high jump champion in 1952, inspiring many.

Human life is not a quality of life issue. Human life is about loving and caring and striving, praying and hoping for the best outcome, not assuming the worst and depriving individuals of their chance to achieve-or just to live. For often, it is those who have risen above almost insurmountable odds that give us the greatest encouragement and provide motivation to live life to the fullest.

Often it is someone who cares about another with a disability that has led to scientific breakthroughs that end up benefiting any number of people.

Only a people that cares and protects the most vulnerable citizens, will continue to grow because they understand the fundamental truth of being a human-compassion.

Each person is unique and special and should be treated with dignity and worth--regardless of age, location, or health. It is time we stop playing God and realize we don't know what the future holds for any one of us. It is time we stop playing God using the selfish concept of quality of life and protect the most vulnerable among us by, once more, valuing each human life.