Will We Be Human? Or Animals Feeding Off Each Other?

The Coronavirus Gives Us a Chance to be Better

By Mark Davis Pickup Published on March 17, 2020

Have you ever wondered what kind of human being you really are? What kind of society we are together? COVID-19 may tell you. 

This pandemic gives us the opportunity to come together as communities and support each other. Or as early indications show, we can adopt the mentality of every man for himself. Do we horde or price-gouge essential supplies such as hand sanitizers, toilet paper, and food — all things other people need too? Do we strip grocery store shelves empty so that others not so quick off the mark have nothing?

A man from Tennessee took a U-Haul across Tennessee and Kentucky snapping up all the hand sanitizers and antibacterial wipes from every store. He wanted to make what he called “crazy money,” and jack up the price as high as possible to sell to people in desperate need of them. Another man near Edmonton, Canada, scooped up all the children’s thermometers at Costco. Then he bragged how much profit he was going to make.

Really? Are we part of a community or animals in a jungle of animals feeding off each other?

Not Right

This is not right. But I should not have been so surprised how quickly my culture can descend. We already embrace personal autonomy. I, me, mine. 

For almost fifty years we have legally killed children before birth who were inconvenient to our lifestyles or personal ambitions. Now our demand for personal autonomy and self-determination have brought medically assisted suicide to many countries throughout the world, including some American states and my country of Canada. Abortion, euthanasia and “assisted suicide” cross a long-held taboo against murder. They all weaken the foundations of interdependent community.

If I can kill you or help you die, why should I treat you as a full member of the human community? Why should you care about me? Why should I share my life and goods with you, or you me? No reason at all.

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You cannot have interdependent community and personal autonomy. They are diametrically opposed. You must choose one. Unfortunately, our societies have made the wrong choice for over four decades. But we can change. Our societies must change. We can reject personal autonomy and independence and embrace interdependence.

We are inter-connected and responsible for each others’ well being, because every person bears the indelible image of God. Words like family, neighbor, community and nation attest to our interdependence. 

Our Better Selves

Every generation is confronted with the most ancient question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The first person to ask that was a murderer trying to lie to God about his murdering his brother. But it’s a very good question. God’s answer is “Yes.” As Jesus, “As you did unto the least of these, you did to me.”

Are you your brother’s keeper? Your answer to that question will govern how you behave toward others.

If you ascribe to the principle “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” then you ascribe to the Golden Rule. We don’t always remember one aspect of that rule. It teaches the principle of mutual interdependence. We want people to care for us and come to our aid. Therefore we should care for others and come to their aid.

And that brings me back to the current situation confronting the world with COVID19. We must rise to our better selves. We have simple ways to do that. If you are sick or symptomatic, isolate yourself for the required two weeks. Buy only those items that your family needs and don’t horde essential items everybody needs. Help neighbors who cannot get out to acquire what they need. Heed public health directions in a rapidly evolving pandemic. And spend more time praying for the sick, for those with risk factors, the doctors and nurses who work tirelessly to heal them, the pastors who care for them, the officials tasked with guiding us through this.

No matter how desperate things may become, remember that God is with us. That means we need to be with each other. Answer Yes to Cain’s question. We are our brother’s keeper. Let us use COVID19 as an opportunity to show our children and grandchildren this life principle for now and the future.

 

Mark Davis Pickup is a Canadian pro-life activist. You can read more of his thoughts and story at his blog, Human Life MattersFor more on his life, see Nancy Flory’s profile, Man With Severe MS Walks Again. See also her interview with him about his pro-life work, Fighting Euthanasia.

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