I started watching the HBO series ROME last night. Outside of the gratuitous sex scenes I am fascinated by the show. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to live in those days—the days just prior to the Incarnation. Watching ROME coupled with the reading I’ve been doing on Herod the Great (did you know Herod saved the Olympic Games and ensured its future) made me think about the value of human life. It seemed nothing in those days to kill a person—even family members. Herod killed so many in his own family it was said “it is better to be Herod’s pig than his son”. Unnatural death seemed to be an everyday occurrence in the days of Christ’s birth; no wonder there wasn’t a huge outcry when Herod demanded that all boys two years old and under be killed in and around Bethlehem.
Today we seem to place a much higher value on human life—or do we? Abortions are happening at an alarming rate. And even the anti-abortion crowd seems to only care about abortions in their own country and could not care less about children starving to death in other countries. I am still horrified by the genocide in Rwanda where an estimated 800,000 people were murdered over a span of approximately 100 days. The genocide in Darfur has left over 400,000 murdered. Those numbers are staggering, yet, because they happened in a far away land we don’t seem bothered by them. If we really believe that all people are created equal shouldn’t we value the human life in Ethiopia just as much as we value human life in Detroit? If we really believe that all people are created equal shouldn’t the great number of people dying of Aids in Africa break our hearts just as much as children dying of cancer at Mott Hospital? Do we really place a higher value on human life than the ancient Romans?
It is terrifying. As a mom, hearing of the torture and/or death of children always hurts my heart. What can we do? Another charity event where .02 cents of every $100 goes to an orphanage while also gracing the pockets of a rich "soft heart"? Pray more? Fast? The Romans lived before the incarnation, before the idea that every life is precious and valuable. We live after the incarnation, an event that is now being taught as fable, in a world where it is debated and challenged everyday whether or not every life is precious and valuable or just a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for the man down the street, but I do value life. I can only hope that the man down the street doesn't have or isn't given the power to *decide* whether or not my life is valuable.
Penny, you say that the Romans lived before the idea that every life is precious and valuable. When do you think that idea came about?
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