September 25, 2014: Del Rio News-Herald * Letter to the Editor * "Celebrate 'Respect Life Month' in October"

Letter to the Editor,

October is Respect Life Month:  October 5 is Respect Life Sunday and October 26 is Life Chain 2014.

Why is there a month specifically dedicated to remind us and persuade us to “Respect Life”?

Could it be that our society is rampantly raging with disrespect, disgrace and dishonor concerning human life?

Has selfishness, self-centeredness and self-satisfaction replaced sacrificial love and mutual respect, producing the prevailing hard-hearted, mind numbing and soulless milieu that has pervaded and permeated our culture?

Have we isolated ourselves from the human family, arrogantly insulated ourselves and lost all semblances of the dignity and sanctity that must be accorded to human life?

Is the current headline news featuring the abominable atrocity of artillery attacks, the horrendous brutality of beheadings, the vitriolic physical and psychological damage of domestic violence, and the virulent epidemic of the Ebola virus simply dismissed with detached apathy and disconnected indifference?

Have we become so desensitized and demoralized that we have built a resistance to the human reaction and responsiveness of affinity, benevolence, compassion, deference and empathy?

Have we become blinded and can no longer see the beauty of life, hard of hearing and can no longer hear the joy of life, and cold hearted and can no longer feel the magnificence of life?

Is that why there is a special month to remind us all that life is to be respected from the moment of conception in the mother’s womb to natural death in God’s Eternal Plan,  in all its stages and ages, with all its abilities and disabilities, in all its normality and abnormality, with all its joyful edifications and sorrowful mortifications?

Will we be counted among those who respect life by inflaming our heart, informing our mind and illuminating our soul with gratitude for God’s glorious gift of life?

“All life has inestimable value even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.” – Pope Francis

Respectfully,

Marian Casillas, Ed.D.