(This BLOG contains my unedited address for the Blue Ribbon Foundation on Sept. 25th)
This time last year, as we gathered here, I said that not much is sacred in our world anymore. And that’s still largely true, I think. What is left that is sacred we need to hold onto so that we do not, as a society, slide into the abyss of all that is profane and callous. And that means that people like us, apart from upholding the law as citizens, and others such as most of you enforcing the law, need to hold the line ...
In the last few weeks we’ve witnessed the sanctify of life being brutally trampled upon. This trampling on the sanctity of life with the cold-blooded murder of two of our own in Victoria’s High Country and, two weeks or so ago, the brutal, premediated murder of US activist Charlie Kirk, has signalled a new phase in our society’s growing and callous disregard for the life of another person. But this cheapening of human life - the causes of it, the justifying of it - did not evolve overnight. The multiple causes of it have been fermenting for decades. What we are now seeing is a more brazen and arrogant, manifestation of what has been brewing. Kids killing other kids with machetes, the increase of domestic violence and much more …
40 years ago this December, then Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago gave what was to become an historic lecture at Fordham University on what he called the “consistent ethic of life”. It was a landmark presentation that is still resonating today. The “Consistent Ethic of Life” which formed the framework of Bernadin’s thesis is the belief that all human beings, by sheer virtue of their humanity, deserve to live free from all aggressive violence, from the moment of conception to natural death. Bernadin’s paper was hailed on that day. It’s near impossible to disagree with his basic thesis. Yet, only three years after he proposed a consistent ethic of life, Bernardin lamented how the notion of the sanctity of life had already become controversial among the right-to-life movement and others. Tension had developed over the understanding of the sanctity of a life. Is there any confusion here? Really?
Now, without getting into any controversial and extremely complex arguments about right-to-life abortion and other things, I simply make the observation that where we are now as a society, has its origins way back in the 1960s. Somewhere back there decisions were made. Some tinkering started happening with the fabric of society. In some cases very justifiable adjustments were made to make accommodations for people in dire straits regarding their health and well-being. But the tinkering continued beyond that, and more and more accommodations were made, and more and more justifications were claimed that began to carry so much more weight than the sanctity of life. So that now we almost have a different societal DNA. Life has become so cheap. Its sanctity has eroded to the point where we routinely, “cancel you”, or even kill you if you even think differently, or even believe differently to me. We are such a bunch of tribes today and we are at war with each other, it seems. Life is being cheapened daily on all manner of social media platforms every day. People are humiliated, reputations and careers are routinely destroyed, some kids, as young as 12, have taken their own lives.
The sanctity of every human life is now at greater risk than ever before, depending on where you live and what you do, to a lesser or greater degree, from police members being murdered to homes being invaded, to machete wielding thugs swarming supermarkets – and in the shocking aftermath of all these things there is practically no remorse. In fact, in some places, as we have seen, someone’s death was mocked and even cheered. Why? An accidental death of someone on the job is one kind of tragedy, but this is a whole other scenario.
To quote Cardinal Bernardin,
“When human life is considered ‘cheap’ or easily expendable in one area, eventually nothing is held as sacred and all lives are in jeopardy everywhere”.
How did we get here? I suspect too much tinkering with a raft of things that now are much weightier than the sanctity of life itself in substantial sections of our community. The deaths of our esteemed members in the line of duty shocked us, they robbed us a bit more, they trampled on the sanctity of every one of our lives – and we feel it deeply today. Because, over time, the tinkering has shaped a new attitude that could, at the extreme end, easily justify murder without any qualms.
You may not realise it … but as we gather here today to remember, as we honour those from amongst us who have fallen, or who are now lost to us; as we grieve them, and hold their memories sacred … we are also making a visible emphatic statement that we are determined to guard the sanctity of every human life. That we will uphold the dignity of another human being, and not just by means of the law, but with every word and action that says, “no human life is disposable”. When the dignity of another human being is trashed, ripped down and spat upon, mocked, disrespected and cancelled, more of the great reservoir of the sanctity of all human life disappears from us. The result is more fear, more hate and more violence. And amongst the two or three very worst examples of this trashing of the sanctity of human life is when a police member who has sworn to serve the community, to keep us all safe, to protect us and reassure us, is brutally, callously taken from us. I am so angry about this …
We pause to remember today those who have gone before us, as we should. We pause to honour them, to reflect on their contribution to us and their courage in working to keep us all safe from violence of any kind. We grieve still. Their loved ones still feel the pain of that loss years down the track. As we remember like this today, in a formal corporate sense, we are also refusing to bow to this relentless erosion of the sanctity of all human life. We refuse to go with that flow. We stand defiantly in the face of this evil and renew our commitment to all people, to respect and uphold their dignity and inherent sacredness.
The very concept of human rights rests upon the immutable foundation of our shared humanity. This humanity is evident in the unique, unrepeatable, inimitable, and irreplaceable nature of each and every human life. No human being can be replicated; each and every human life exhibits an individuality that renders its replacement absolutely impossible. There is only one you – and it is the most sacred thing in this world, it is distinctly and inestimably precious.
And so, to remember our fallen in the battle for the sanctity of life, is a sacred, noble duty. And it is good that we gather like this, it is essential that we gather like this – it is an act of community resistance to those forces that hold life cheaply. If we stop remembering, properly remembering, we let the forces that hold life cheap win another round. Today is more than grieving and remembering. In honouring the passing of our comrades, their memories, we commit to uphold the sanctity of life afresh.
In this solemn, though brief, act of remembrance today we get to pause and reflect momentarily, and to value afresh once again the preciousness of these unique men and women who have departed this world, but who have never left our hearts. And in that process, we get in touch with our humanity more deeply, perhaps, than we would normally do in the hustle and bustle of daily life … the awesome sanctity of it. We are enriched, we are blessed, we are strengthened to encourage each other, and we are renewed to go out there to uphold with fresh passion and vigour what is right. Take your time here today to do that. As you go from here, today … may God go with you to guide you, to guard you, to strengthen and support you. May God be your light in times of darkness, your protection in times of danger, and your comfort in times of stress and sorrow.
May you know because of today that you are never alone. That you, and the light of life that is in you, is sacred to everyone else around you. Steward that light well, while you can, share it generously with all whom you meet … while you can.
This prayer and blessing is released over you today and I pray God blesses you and remains with you today, and in the days that are ahead.
“Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.”
Ps Milton