Honor and Dignity

The American culture is obsessed with ease, beauty, talent and youth. This is 

detrimental, since this infatuation leads us to murder innocent life, to hide the 

disabled and the elderly. By putting the people who fit in these categories aside, we 

are dishonoring them and not giving them the dignity they deserve. 

As a nation we have decided that ease and comfort are more important to us 

than life. If it’s inconvenient to us to care for and love the children that are in the 

womb, we play God and decide whether or not they shall live. God’s word says that 

children are a blessing, that they are like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior. 

Regardless of whether or not these vulnerable beings will be born with a disability 

or not, is not valid grounds for terminating a persons life. And certainly our desire to 

have an “easy” life without anything or anyone to get in the way of our trip to the 

lake with the buddies isn’t worth destroying another human. 

When we ignore those with disabilities, we lose out on great friendships and 

subtle ways that God shows His greatness. So many of my friends have a disability, 

and they have taught me so much about the world, about God, and life. And yet 

because they’re not beautiful or intelligent by the world’s standards they get pushed 

aside, out of sight out of mind. This is detrimental to our society since it is missing 

out on some of the best treasures in human form. Suffering produces some of the 

best character and these people deal with suffering every single day of their lives. 

How can we do without these treasures? 

As we age we lose standing in a culture that worships youth and beauty. 

Beauty is considered more worthy then age. By pushing the elderly to the margins of 

society, we are loosing out on years of wisdom and experience. We are also proving 

to them and everyone who is growing old that eventually they will be obsolete. Yet it 

never appears to occur to us that everyone gets old eventually. It doesn’t seem to 

matter, if the elderly person has left us with amazing scientific advances, created 

beautiful art or had wonderful insights about God and His goodness, we still push 

them aside. However the Proverbs say, “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in 

a righteous life.” (Proverbs 16:31 ESV) This kind of language suggests that we 

should give them more honor than we do.

As Christians we need to be in the business of giving all human life the honor 

and dignity it deserves, regardless of whether it is young or old, convenient or not, 

beautiful or ugly, talented or untalented. The results would be astronomical. We 

would see the value of human life in all its forms; great friendships would be 

formed; wondrous discoveries would be made; and God’s glory would shine forth.