Terrorists caused mayhem on September 11, 2001, supposedly because they hated the United States. So what did they do? They murdered more than 3,000 persons whom they did not hate.
Now, how can anyone make such a statement? How could anyone know whether or not they hated the 3,000? Very easily.
Ask yourself: "How could I hate 3,000 persons whom I don't even know?"
Are half of them women and half men? "Well, I really don't know."
How many are married, with families? "Well, I really don't know."
How many of the women are pregnant, bearing another life? "Well, I really don't know."
How many of them are children? "Well, I really don't know."
Of the children, how many are nursing infants? "Well, I really don't know."
This is a cosmopolitan city; are they all Americans? "Well, I really don't know."
How many of them are Muslims visiting or on business? "Well, I really don't know."
Nor could the terrorists answer these questions before their mayhem. But, surely, not knowing the victims, they could not hate them.
They certainly did not love them. However, in more normal times, before hatred of America had become a passion for them and murder had become their tactic, had the opportunity ever arisen for them to have met and socialized with many of the 3,000, they would have found some quite pleasant to be with, some even endearing.
So, what's the answer? The answer is that they neither loved nor hated the particular persons they murdered. Rather, they were indifferent to the rights and dignity of any group of human beings — preferably any large group, mainly Americans — whom they could murder spectacularly on American soil. They surely hated (perhaps because of envy) our culture and, likely, our successful economic system, but they didn't hate those 3,000.
What is this about indifference? It can be understood for what it is if you start with the knowledge that love of another, at a minimum, entails respect and caring about that person's wellbeing with a willingness to do what you can to enhance that wellbeing — to help, however you might be reasonably able.
Hatred isn't the opposite of love; indifference is. Indeed valorous actions can be motivated by hatred properly directed, such as hating injustice toward the poor so vigorously that one becomes the champion of the poor who have suffered injustices.
Suicide bombers, as did the 9/11 terrorists, clearly employ indifference to human life deliberately as they know not, nor care, whom they will kill, maim, or deprive of family members or friends. With cursed human pride boiling in their veins, achieving their jihadist ends trumps all.
But indifference to human life is not unique to terrorists. It has been, for many years, a prominent characteristic of American life, with deadly consequences far more destructive than even the 9/11 terrorists achieved.
Now, how can anyone make such a statement? Americans, after all, are known to be among the most generous people in the world. The vast majority of Americans would adamantly declare their adherence to the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
Whom would Americans consider included in "others"? Generally, it seems safe to say they would include not only those personally known to them, but also others who might have some needs requiring help of some sort. Walk into a small store in any one of thousands of American communities and you might see a collection jar on the counter with a story about some local family battling an illness or recovering from a fire. Let a disaster strike near or far and American rescuers are on the move, trucks of supplies are rolling and even the American military ships are maneuvering into position to help. Personally and institutionally, in many varied circumstances, and at great sacrifice, the Golden Rule is not merely endorsed, but is acted upon by Americans.
Still, many Americans go further in recognizing its origin and authority in Divine Scripture. Mark's gospel (Mk 12: 28-34) states the following:
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength'. The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any question.
As we see, not only do a vast majority of Americans subscribe in principle and even in deed to the Golden Rule, a very significant number recognize that we are dealing with God's commandments, that seeking the welfare of our neighbor is not merely "nice to do," but is rather a personal, obligatory, responsibility derived from the mandate of God Himself.
Let us now factor in this: each and every day of every year in the USA, a number of our neighbors, living, unborn human beings — greater in total number than all killed by terrorists on 9/11 — are brutally dismembered in their mothers' wombs, extracted piece-by-piece for rough reassembly on an "operating" table to be "reasonably" certain no significant pieces were unintentionally "left inside" to cause "undesired complications."
One might ask: "How could such an inhuman process be allowed to continue in a country, most of whose citizens — as a minimum — believe in the Golden Rule?"
Though the answer is complex, indifference certainly enters into it. One mode of this American indifference is touched with deliberateness — the kind of deliberate indifference shown by the terrorists. But for the majority, I believe the indifference is not deliberate but less conscious and more attitudinal, ranging from slothful irresolution, "I don't have time to evaluate all issues involved. Both sides, likely, have good points." To the socially-pressured and morally inconsistent conscience-salve: "I wouldn't have an abortion myself but I'm not going to deny that right to another." To the more robust: "Don't tell me; I'd rather not know." Meanwhile, the death toll of innocent, defenseless human beings — our neigbors — by abortion continues to mount.
There are deliberate, well organized, aggressive purveyors of indifference who have skillfully maneuvered the American political system into setting laws and providing judicial interpretations of laws in such a way as to raise to the level of absolute defenselessness the continuing life of any targeted, unborn human being. They fuzz up the English language so as to hide the fact that their brutal killing of babies is nothing more than the cowardly murdering of defenseless innocent human beings.
Election after election, 50% of American citizens who are eligible to vote do not vote at the federal level where abortion is authorized. As a result, abortion ideologues need only concentrate on pulling out a bit more than half of the votes that will be cast, in other words a bit more than 1/4 of the total of all votes that can be cast. This is how the pro-abortion tail has successfully wagged the federal government dog. Bearing in mind the immensity of the number of consistently, non-voted ballots, consider, additionally, the likelihood that many, many votes cast for abortion-supporting politicians likely are so cast despite the politician's pro-abortion position, rather than because of it and we see that the status quo can change with head-spinning suddenness!
The tremendous potential for stopping dead (excuse me) in its tracks the abortion industry's merciless execution of innocent, defenseless, unborn human beings lies in the fact that the whole abortion industry teeters on a precarious base of election politics, nothing more.
Except for abortion ideologues, most Americans are uncomfortable with rampant abortion. Half of eligible voters habitually do not vote in federal elections, where abortion is husbanded, and these non-voters are clearly not abortion ideologues, because ideologues don't fail to vote. Even among the many voting for abortion-supporting candidates, most do so for reasons other than abortion.
I beg of you to carry the message to all who will listen or read, that you and they are charged by the Highest Authority to love your neighbor, nothing less. If your voting or non-voting has facilitated America's horrific slaughter of human beings in the womb, change your habits forthwith! Promptly (NOW!) tell politicians seeking your vote that you are looking for them to clearly, immediately, and often, state credible intentions to end abortion. Follow through to vote accordingly Election Day.
We should treat with firmness but sincere civility those abortion advocates with whom we disagree. If there is to be rancor, let its initiation and continuation emanate from them, not us. But our commitment to civility must not be perverted into indifference. A groundswell from common citizens, and most especially from Catholic laity, will be effective in large degree irrespective of who might be elected to any federal office, countering their cowardly political inclination to kowtow to the culture of death in any of its ramifications. The groundswell should intensify election to election. Popular opinion will forestall the abortion-supporters' tactic of leveling attacks against clergymen who speak out against them or their pet politicians. As our clergy are freed to elucidate the full nature of love and our full responsibility as neighbors to practice it, the true nature of Love and its necessity in all relationships will become ever clearer, better understood and better served. Down with indifference! The unborn are our neighbors too; we must love them with our vote.
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