October: Respect Life Month and the Call of Occupational Therapists

A rose outside of St.Thérèse's Convent in Lisieux, France 

The month of October is recognized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as Respect Life Month. Throughout my internship, I have been challenged to think about respecting life in a new way.  I have been blessed to visit Bethlehem House a Catholic community in DC for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, three times now. When I walked into Bethlehem House for the first time and each time thereafter, I could feel a palpable sense of peace and I immediately felt at home.  Each of the residents and staff welcomed me and was happy that I was there not because of what I have done, but simply because I was there.

In one of my visits, I was able to attend mass with their community.  It was the feast day of St Thérèse of Lisieux, a French nun who is famous for her simple spirituality of doing small things with great love.  During the homily, the priest asked several of the residents if they ever wanted to be someone else, or if they were truly happy with being themselves.  Each of the residents responded, “Yes!” they were truly happy being themselves and amidst their challenges, they would not want to be anyone else.  The priest shared what St. Therese taught: this is the path to happiness and holiness for everyone; to embrace ourselves for who God has created us to be and to embrace others and to affirm them in their goodness and dignity.

There is no deeper affirmation of the dignity of life than to simply accept others for who they are, not for what they are able to do, treating them with kindness and love because they were created by God and are inherently good. I think this is truly the mission of an occupational therapist.  I know there is a focus in occupational therapy to help our clients to become as independent as possible and to help them live productive lives in order to increase overall health and happiness.  These are all good and necessary things and truly contribute to respecting human life.  But what I remember as a student, sitting in class listening to my professors who are experienced OTs, was seeing their eyes light up as they told stories of helping their patients participate in activities that did not necessarily constitute as “productive.”  Stories of helping a patient work on balance and coordination so that he could dance with his daughter at her wedding, working with an older woman on hand and arm strength so that she could return to her garden that she loved, or helping a child with several disabilities who loved animals to be able to ride a horse.  These are the stories that motivated my classmates and me to persevere in our studies, knowing that one day we could be able to respect the dignity of the human person in this way.

 

The rose is traditionally recognized as a symbol of respect for all life

 

You see, it is not what we do, but who we are that gives us intrinsic value and worth.  Who we are is good, with all of our unique personality traits, our interests, our struggles, and our joys that God has given us throughout our lives.  What a gift and an honor it is as an occupational therapist to be able to share in these moments with others and affirm the dignity of others by affirming and respecting the activities and experiences that are important to them.  So as Respect Life Month draws to a close, let us all remember the words of Pope Benedict XVI, in his first homily as pope, “Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary”.