Hey, Notre Dame, have you seen the “Life Is” posters? You may not have realized it, but your campus has been part of a new movement, The Life Is Campaign. It is a plan to launch a new global dialogue, aimed at affirming the dignity and beauty of human life in all forms and conditions.
Human beings, the most valuable creatures on earth, are confused about the dignity and value of their own lives. Some regard it as fearful, and they are paralyzed. Some regard it as a race to the top, and they take advantage of others. Some regard it as hopeless, and they are passive. Some regard it as disposable, and they kill. Many humans look at human life through the wrong lenses.
It is time for a change of attitude. Life is beautiful, pure, and joyful. And yes, life is painful, sorrowful, and tragic. But it is pain that can be borne, sorrow that can be overcome, and tragedy that can be confronted. The Life Is Campaign was designed to give new lenses to the world.
The mission of The Life Is Campaign is to raise up a community of storytellers to go out into the world and share their own human experience and share them with live audiences, sparking a new exchange between humans in all parts of the world. The posters found on Notre Dame’s campus offer truth, but truth in action; and beauty, but beauty made tangible; and goodness, but goodness made real.
So then what are the posters for? The campaign is spreading their idea by using Operation Sophie. Inspired by the 2015 Sony World Photography Exhibition, as well as Sophie Scholl of the White Rose, a German student resistance movement during the Nazi regime, this is a plan to surprise campuses and cities with a “flashmob” of posters that affirm the dignity and beauty of human life in a beautiful and creative way.
The posters have already sprung up in about 16 locations around the US, including Notre Dame’s campus. The Life Is Campaign has just begun, and hundreds across the US have joined since the kickoff this past Friday. Many in Egypt have joined since Saturday, and the campaign only spreading further and further. Connect with the campaign on social media. Put up the posters in your area. Tell the campaign your story, and it can be shared with the world. Life is a movement. Join it.
Find The Life Is Campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. @lifeiscampaign #LIFEIS
Monica Severance is a senior at Benedictine College and a native of Lombard, Illinois. As the leader of this campaign she invites anyone with questions to contact her at seve1473@ravens.benedictine.edu.