Here's 2011 Youth Award Winner Sarah Weiss' essay:
What can this next generation do to promote a positive prolife message?
Recently, in my ethics class, we explored the topic of abortion. At a Christian high school, one might imagine that we were taught the "Christian views" on the subject, and given biblical support to back up these views. But that isn't what we did. Instead, we saw interviews and documentaries and read various articles from people who didn't hold the beliefs that we did. We studied in detail their belief systems, their circumstances, their actions, and their reasoning for their actions. We spent several weeks "studying the enemy," in a sense. But here's the scary part, the part I didn't expect. As I sat unassumingly in the back of my safe classroom in my safe Christian high school, I-more than once-found myself thinking, "that's a good point."
That scared me a lot. Turns out I was pretty ignorant when it came to people who don't believe that life is sacred because God created it, like I do. I realize in that class that I was pretty useless when it came to being "prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Peter 3:15). I had no idea how to confront people who didn't believe what I believed. In my class, we picked apart arguments and learned to apply logic to circumstances in which people refused to let God be a part of their reasoning. I found that I came out of the experience with stronger beliefs, and a better knowledge of why I believe what I believe.
Throughout this learning experience it became more and more clear to me that it doesn't matter how many hours you put in protesting outside abortion clinics or attending benefit dinner if you can't articulate your own beliefs. What difference does it make to an anxious teenager that "life is sacred"? How can you disagree with a politician who cannot allow God to be a part of public policies because he cannot favor any particular religion? My generation is one that can reach great milestones in the pro-life movement if we can learn to answer these questions as well as those of our fellow Christians, and do so "with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15). This positive influence on our peers can help to build a pro-life generation and even bring people to faith through our loving witness.
