Sacrifice

Last week during the presidential debate a question was asked that referenced the sacrifices made in the Depression era. The candidates were asked what sacrifices they would ask the American people to make besides the sacrifices of American lives.

We all have various images that come to mind when we think about sacrifices that we made by families and individuals in the Depression Era. But my guess is that those images probably did not match the answers either candidate gave. In general, both candidates talked about how the American people would have to make do without some government funded programs. Certainly, a lot of people are helped by various government funded programs and for some of them, giving up those programs will indeed be a sacrifice.

I must admit, as I listened to the candidates, I wondered how they defined sacrifice. Merriam-Webster defines sacrifice as "destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else." While this helps a little in defining sacrifice, I think it falls short because with this definition almost anything that is given up, no matter how trivial or inconsequential, can be considered a sacrifice. When I think of sacrifice, I think of something big, something that was costly in one way or another. When I think of sacrifice the definition that comes to mind is one that was used in one of my seminary classes. Sacrifice is "costly self-giving."

Costly self-giving. That tells us a lot about sacrifice in a few short words. First it tells us that sacrifice is costly, it's not trivial or inconsequential. It doesn't have to be monetarily costly, but a sacrifice might be emotionally, socially, physically costly. A Sacrifice is not something that's easy to do. It takes a lot of effort to give up.

This definition also tells us that a sacrifice requires something of you. It's not giving away something that's valuable to someone else, it's giving up something that means a lot to you. Again, this can be physically, mentally, emotionally, monetarily, socially, or any number of other categories. It's a giving of something you have or some part of yourself.

A sacrifice involves the act of giving. It's something that you willingly give. A sacrifice isn't something that's taken from you. A sacrifice is something that you willingly give up, something you willingly offer for the sake of something else, for something that's beyond you, something that's not about you.

Which leads me to the next question, what are we willing to sacrifice for? We're asked to sacrifice for many different things in our society. Sometimes it's for our country, sometimes it's for our family, sometimes it for societies ideal of success, sometimes it's for more money.

Before we consider what we'd be willing to sacrifice, I think it's helpful to ponder what is it that we would be willing to sacrifice for? What is it that's beyond ourselves that we think is worth costly self-giving? Often the things we are willing to make sacrifices for are the things that we value the most.