"The Value of Human Life Trumps All"
Before September 11, 2001 most people in the western world, at least, felt that individuals would value their own lives, even if they took the lives of others. The hijackings of the four planes and the terrorist attacks carried out on the World Trade Center in New York, Pentagon in Washington D.C., and inadvertently in a rural field in western Pennsylvania changed all that. From that point on, even though so-called suicide attacks had taken place for decades in the Middle East and other places, we knew that people would take their own lives for a cause or in order to make a name for themselves or because of their self-hatred after committing a heinous act. This development has certainly made for a less-safe environment for us all.
On Wednesday, August 26th we saw a new manifestation of this when the disgruntled former employee of WDBJ7 in Roanoke, VA killed on camera a newswoman and a cameraman, and then took his own life several hours later. Before he took his own life, the murder left the graphic images of the on-air shooting on Facebook. Still images were later published in several newspapers around the world, including the New York Daily News.
There are many ethical questions raised by this shooting. There is the question of freedoms in America. Does everyone have the right to have a gun and what limits should be placed on getting a gun? Second, there is the question of mental illness. Shouldn’t our society do a better job of providing help for those who are mentally ill, both in terms of screening and treatment? Third, there is the question of the media involved in this horrific event. What can be done to curtail the use of Facebook, Twitter, and other instant media in hyper-communicating these kinds of terrible acts of violence by showing them without limits? When do the pictures of the “news of the day” need to be limited in order to not “glorify” a violent act to those who may be inclined to commit similar heinous acts of violence themselves?
But more than anything else for me is the question of the meaning of a person’s life. It is true that if a person is mentally ill that person’s perceptions may be skewed. They may not value the life of others, or their own life. But human life is so devalued today in general that crimes of passion, anger, and revenge are almost commonplace. We need to regain the sense of the value of human life. From a Christian point of view, God loves each and every human being and so we must treat every human being as equally valuable to God and ourselves. If we begin with the need to protect human lives, then perhaps we can proceed to ways in which we can approach the gun violence and mental health issues of today.We cannot wait for someone else to do something about it. The value of human life trumps all!
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