The sanctity of life

As Christians go into the final days of Lent and Muslims have just begun the month of Ramadan, deeply significant times for both religions, this is a good time for everyone to press the “Pause” button, stop the rush and hurly-burly of life and take time to take stock and think of where we are and what direction we want to go.

The headlines of late have been about a young student losing his life at the hands of his schoolmates in the pursuit of brotherhood; eight lives snuffed out as “collateral damage” in what is appearing to be an intense and long-running political rivalry; a businessman tortured and killed for as yet unclear reasons by foreign hoodlums who were brazen enough – but not very smart – to go to the banks to withdraw the ransom payment; a police chief killed while chasing the suspects in a robbery… and other violent crimes not sensational enough to merit headlines, but – make no mistake – are just as dastardly and despicable. 

The sanctity of human life is – has to be – more than a theory, a cliché, an abstract concept. It means each person, no matter his/her standing or circumstance, has value, has that breath of the divine inherent in him/her. And because of that, no human being has the right to take the life of another human being; in any religion, by any measure, it’s wrong.

It’s possibly almost a cliché too to say that during Lent and during Ramadan we should all take time to reflect and to repent. I’m trying not to be too much of a pessimist and hope that we as a society are not too far gone that we pay mere lip service to repentance and go through the motions of atonement and penance during this solemn time. And after that go back to our rivalries and greed and impudence. We have to be better than that. – Arsenio Sanchez, Malabon