How to Be a Better Person
by: Jonah McCollum, grade 6
What is it like to be pro-life? It is to be good and give the world a chance to be a better place. It goes the same way for a culture of life; it gives the world a chance to be a better place. A culture of death is the exact opposite, and I will tell you the meaning of some of these words in the next paragraph in case you do not know what they mean.
A culture of life means everyone is valued equally, no matter his race, size, or weight. A culture of death is when someone judges people for their weight, size, or their race, but it can be about other things too. It can also mean to commit a crime like theft, vandalism, and murder.
If our country embraces a culture of life, there will be a lot less killing with more people living a culture of life. There will also be less theft, racism, vandalism, and judgment by size or weight for the exact same reason. If our country does not embrace it, it will be the exact opposite of what I said above. If we do not embrace it, the killing, racism, theft, vandalism, and judgment by size and weight can only get a lot worse.
How can being a pro-life witness help society? It is not easy to involve yourself in activism. However, it is necessary. I think some people have realized that something has to be done, and they need to be involved. I think others have wanted to help for a long time but might have been afraid of standing up for what is right because they were worried their family might not approve. Maybe they were worried about getting criticized by people who do not like pro-life people.
Showing respect to others means being nice to others, being the one to help others when they have been bullied or tormented, being the one to pick them up, being the one who loves people, or being the one who wants to help people. It does not matter if they have cooler clothes than you, if they are smarter than you, and if they are better at sports than you. A priest once said in a homily, “You may not like them, but you have to love and respect them as you love and respect yourself.” That is one of the things that I will always remember, and it means a lot to me because it is what I try to do. Some people can be annoying and I may not like them, but I love and respect them and try to kindly ask them to stop instead of yell at them. That would be an influence of the culture of death and would make others want to follow the same bad behaviors.
That is why I am pro-life and part of the culture of life. If you are or were part of the culture of death, I really hope you will change your mind because we have had enough of that. That is one of the reasons I wrote this essay. We do not need any more people in the world putting people down, just people to help them up. I hope this essay can change people because crime, racism, and judgment just need to stop. If we do not embrace the culture of life, the killing, racism, theft, vandalism, and judgment by size and weight can only get a lot worse.
© 2018 Jonah McCollum