2006 Youth Supplement

Want to save a life and make your life stand for something?

Photo caption: Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School senior Sarah Pottratz of Indianapolis presents her award-winning pro-life speech during the “Celebrate Life” dinner on Sept. 14 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. She received a standing ovation from 950 people attending the 24th annual Right to Life of Indianapolis fundraiser. Her speech won first place in the organization’s annual oratory contest for high school students. Sarah is a member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Sarah Pottratz (Special to The Criterion)

This past fall, I started a club with my friend at our school. That’s not exactly a controversial statement, right? Well, it just so happens that this wasn’t exactly an ordinary club.

This wasn’t like Spanish Club or Chess Club. This was a club that deals with important issues and faces adversity on a daily basis. This was a club that deals with something so important it amazes me that it wasn’t started sooner. This club is a pro-life club. LIFE, which stands for “Living Is For Everyone,” deals with just that—life.

We believe that all human life is precious no matter if that life is handicapped, in a coma, unborn or a convicted murderer. We work to raise awareness of this fact to everyone in our school and the outlying community.

The question is, “Why is this such a controversial issue? Shouldn’t ‘Living Is For Everyone’ just be one of those ‘duh’ type statements?”

Well, you may think so, and I may think so, but to many people this is not the case.

Many people take human life for granted and think that everyone should have the right to decide whether or not a person should be allowed to continue life on this earth.

OK, you think that sounds awful, but what exactly has that got to do with us? Well, it’s our job to fix this problem that has spread throughout our country. We need to raise awareness of this issue and convince others to defend human life, especially the life of the unborn.

There are three ways in which we can do this. One, stop being so afraid to offend another person with our opinion. Two, let people know the facts about how terrible abortion is. And three, be willing to participate or even start pro-life organizations in your own schools and communities.

Many people say that the reason they will not join a

pro-life organization is because they think that everyone should be able to decide for themselves what they think is right or wrong. That they may be personally against abortion, but they don’t want to hurt anybody else’s feelings by telling them that they are wrong and are actually murdering unborn children.

Well, that seems pretty silly, doesn’t it? Everyone has the right to decide what they think is right and what they think is wrong. Does that mean that we just shouldn’t have any laws at all?

Does that mean that we should just turn and walk the other way when we see someone being harassed or picked on by a bully? After all, if that person is harassing another person then they must have just decided that that was the “right” thing for them to do, and who are we to stand in their way, right?

Wrong! That’s ridiculous! We wouldn’t just stand by and watch someone hurting another person. We would call the police or get a teacher or even go right in there ourselves and try to defend the victim. So why wouldn’t we do the same thing for the victim of abortion?

We can’t be so afraid to take on a controversial issue that we end up allowing things to happen that could destroy the potential happiness of another person. We need to quit being so politically correct and take a stand.

Adults are always telling their children to be who they are and to not care what other people might think, yet we are constantly afraid of what others will say about us if we stand up for what we believe in and they don’t agree with us.

Well, all I have to say is that we need to get over ourselves. People are always going to disagree with you about something, so why not stand up for what you believe in?

We should be willing to sacrifice our vanity and pride in order to save lives. If Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us lowly sinners, totally unworthy of any mercy or sacrifice, then I think we should be willing to sacrifice our “good image” for the sake of innocent unborn children.

Another reason many people do not join the pro-life movement is because they don’t even realize they need to. Sure, they’ve heard about abortion and what not, but they don’t really seem to realize that nearly every third baby conceived in America is killed by an abortion.

That’s about 1.8 million innocents killed annually. That means that in just four years there will be more victims of abortion than in the Holocaust. That’s crazy! We all look back on the Holocaust with remorse and regret, and often think, “Why didn’t we just do something sooner?”

We can’t help but wonder, if we had stepped in sooner and stood up to Hitler and his Nazi followers before they gained so much power, would so many Jews have been killed?

The thing is, however, we are allowing history to repeat itself. We are letting an entire generation of people die just because a mother decides she doesn’t want to go through the burden of having an unwanted child.

Isn’t that the same reasoning that Hitler used when he thought up his Final Solution? That society would be better off without these people that were “unwanted” and supposedly inferior?

We can’t let this happen again. The problem with the Holocaust was that most Americans and even many Europeans didn’t even realize to what extent people were being killed. They didn’t even realize there was a problem.

It is therefore our responsibility to make sure that everyone knows what a terrible crime abortion is, and that we need to stand up together to stop this killing from being a legal practice in our country. Never again should we allow the cry of genocide to go unheard.

The best way to do this is to start or join a pro-life organization in our own communities. I know this is not always the easiest thing to do, but if we want to raise awareness and stop abortion, it is what needs to be done.

Another important thing to remember when trying to start your club is that you are not alone. There are people who are willing to help you. Although your organization may start out small, and many times you will get frustrated and want to give up, just remember everything that Jesus suffered for you and keep going. People will always be there to support you and offer you guidance, and you will make a difference in the life of someone, even if you don’t realize it at the time.

We’ve looked at the fears, facts and our responsibility regarding the protection of human life. Although it is not necessary to start a club like my friend and I did in order to make a difference, we do all have to work together to change the way that the world views the gift of life.

Life is something that should not have to be defended. Life should be something that is a given, not something we have to say we are “pro” for.

However, in our current society, we do have to stand up for life. We have to work for the protection of so many innocent children and raise awareness for those who might otherwise be ignorant of this problem. But we will continue to do so until we no longer have to distinguish between

pro-life and pro-choice. After all, Living Is For Everyone.

(Sarah Pottratz is a member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis and is a senior at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. Her speech earned the first-place award in the 2006 Right to Life of Indianapolis Student Oratory Contest.) †