The media is abuzz with rumors that extraterrestrial beings are monitoring our planet. Surely, if these visitors are even nominally intelligent, they must be amused by us homo sapiens and our habit of linguistic contradiction. Consider the popular uses of the terms pro-choice and discrimination.
Many who hear the term pro-choice recoil because of its current implications about the termination of pregnancy. Unfortunately, this reaction leads to a pejorative concept of choice. But, upon more reasoned reflection one could understandably ask: why do we need pro-choice when no one would be anti-choice? Choice is critical. Where would we be without it? Certainly, it has scriptural sanctions. Think of the choice given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Consider the admonition of Moses in Deuteronomy: ‘therefore, choose life that your children may live’ (Deut. 30), or Jesus’ gentle rebuke to Martha when he tells her that Mary, has ‘chosen the better part’ (Lk. 10). Choice is not limited to us humans. God himself exercised it when he selected the Jews as his Chosen People. Choice is essential to personal fulfillment.
Just as choice can take on a negative connotation, so too, more and more, can the word discrimination. Many who hear this term confuse it with prejudice, prejudice against a given racial, ethnic or religious group. But discrimination, or more specifically the ability to discriminate, is not the cause of such negative animus. Discrimination is a values-free faculty which allows for the recognition of distinction. Is it this unfortunate conflation of the terms discrimination and prejudice that fosters in our society the detrimental tendency to ignore or minimize the aspects that distinguish us, our two sexes, our ethnic and religious groups, or our elderly and the young populaces, etc.? Such a result would be regrettable, for our ability to discriminate enables our ability to discern and to mature.
To discriminate, to discern, to choose: these are necessary functions for us to ascertain and act on our purpose in life. Those who believe in God understand that their purpose in life is to carry out the plan God wills for them, that is, to allow God to work his will through them. This requires knowing the options, identifying the most appropriate course of action, and then choosing.
Philanthropy requires discrimination, discernment, and choice. Many think that philanthropy happens because donors see the imago Dei in others in need of assistance, a sentiment underscored by the riveting passage in chapter 25 of Mathew’s Gospel which obliges us to see God ‘in the least of these’. However, philanthropy is also effected by the imago Dei present in the philanthropists themselves, for it is the presence of God working through them. By practicing such discrimination, discernment and choice, they progress toward the full realization of their personal potential and toward the full realization of humanity’s potential.
Would visitors from outer space marvel at how the advance of the Kingdom is not frustrated by the ambiguities of our language?