What Influences My Ethical Thinking...

I think the foundation of my ethical thinking is tied to my Christian world view. In the earlier posting about the two girls facing the abortions, I found myself struggling because my opinions could be seen as judgment. I do not believe it is right to judge others for their weaknesses or mistakes. This is not only part of my world view, but it is part of my daily life. I do not judge others, because I do not want to be judged. There are enough things that I have done in my life that I am sure that others could judge as right or wrong. I may not be proud of some things that I have done or wish that I had the opportunity to do it over and do it differently. I think it is difficult to judge others when you do not have the responsibility to live with their decision. The other major part of my world view is that I believe that we have a responsibility to each other. Another way to say this is that I believe I am my brother’s keeper. This idea was reinforced to me when I read Martin Luther King’s, Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”.

 

In the abortion video I found myself more interested in understanding the pain and suffering that the young women were going through, verse trying to determine if what they did was right or wrong. Another part of my world view is the idea of stewardship. I spoke earlier in my blogs about being a steward of the environment and the natural resources. I believe that we do not own the planet, but we are here to care for the planet. I strongly believe that we have a responsibly to leave the planet in a healthy state for future generations. As I think more about what I have learned in this class, these three things not to judged, to be your brother’s keeper, and to be a good steward of the planet, are what shape my current ethical thinking.

Elie Wiesel's Comments were Interesting...

I found Elie Wiesel’s comments about differences between ethics and law to be interesting, and his statement, “that laws over time have changed.” It makes me wonder if I found myself in a situation were my liberties and freedoms were at stake, would I want someone to use ethics or law. I question Wiesel’s statement that, “laws apply to all human beings equally, with equal force and equal validity.” This seems to conflict with Martin Luther King's, Jr. writings in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. I think Martin Luther King, Jr. was speaking of moral law, justice and ethical values.

 

I agree with the statement that Wiesel made, “ethics is more human.” He also said, “Ethics is something that involves the other person.” I find his other statement that, “the law can exists without the persons”, some what frightening. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws.”  Martin Luther King, Jr. also said, “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” I liked the way St. Augustine explains it, “that an unjust law is no law at all.” I would not want to find myself in a situation were I was being judged purely by a law without having a moral or ethical foundation to the law. There are many examples in history where the application of law was use to suppress or victimize others. I think that sometimes laws can be just, but it can be the judicial system that unfairly administers or applies the law. So I guess it is important to not only look at laws, but the system of justice that is used to apply these laws, and hopefully ethical and just people will be part of the judicial system.

Frontline Abortion Clinic...

I found it very difficult to watch the Frontline documentary. I can not really say that I am for or against abortion. I think that it should be the mother’s choice. Although, I think that the baby’s rights should be considered as well. I know that there is a huge argument, from reading the textbook, over when the conceptus is consider to be a human being, and therefore giving it rights. I have learned that this is a very difficult subject to make a decision on.      

 

In the video the first woman, decided to go forth with an abortion. She stated that keeping the baby was not the best option. She thought if she was to go through the 9 months she would want to keep the baby, and would not be able to give it up for adoption. She also knew that she would not be able to provide a good and healthy environment for her child to grow up. Therefore, she came to the conclusion that an abortion was the best decision. Ethically, I think that she believed that it would be unfair and immoral to the baby, if she went through with the pregnancy and gave the child an unjust life. Though, I can also see the argument that killing the baby is immoral and unjust. That leads back to the whole argument over when the conceptus is consider a human being. Honestly, I do not know if she made the right decision or not. I think as long as she is able to live with her decision then she made the right one for her.

 

The second woman in the video that decides also to go forth with an abortion has some very similar reason for why she made her decision. She already has a 2 year old son that she is having trouble taking care of. She also does not want to place the child, which she is pregnant with, up for adoption for the main reason that she would always be wondering about where that child was and how it was living with out her. Therefore, she too decided that the abortion was the best choice for her. I really do not think that either of these girls ever thought ethically about these decisions. I think they just thought about the babies then about themselves, and then made what they thought was the best decision for them. Now do not get me wrong, I do understand that both women will probably be emotion damaged for life because of the decision that they made.

 

As I think about this exercise, it relates back to morality in that there are consequences for decisions. Maybe having a different world view, related to premarital sexual relations could have had different consequences for these young women. This video reinforces to me that decisions have consequences and having a value system is very important to help me make my decisions. Hopefully as my understanding of ethical and moral value systems evolves it will prevent me from finding myself in one of these very difficult, ethical and moral situation.

What Virtue Means to Me...

Another part of this weeks learning plan that I found interesting was the discussion on virtue, meaning “what does it take for an individual human being to be a good person?” I have always struggled with the word virtue. I thought that I understood, but it was hard for me to explain. It helped when the learning plan used Aristotle’s ideas that, “every activity has a final cause”, and “there must be a highest good at which all human activity ultimately aims.” In addition, the learning plan focused on that there must be a balance between reason and desire, logic and emotion; in order to be a happy person. Another way to say this, is that people can be judged by their virtuous acts. In a previous posting I spoke about Dr. Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. Even though he was dying during this last lecture he was sharing and showing that in the face of death all is not lost. He was encouraging us to live our lives in search of achieving our dreams, to act virtuously. He was motivating us to live, while he was facing the end of his life. I really encourage you to watch the last lecture “Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”, it helped me understand what virtue really means.

The Last Lecture...

The End of Life video reminded my of another video that I watched, called Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in my home town in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. This video is a recording of Randy Pausch’s last lecture, after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; he was told that he would not survive. He was 47, married, a father, and consider to be one of the World's Top-100 Most Influential People. His video showed courage, humor, and an understanding of what he was facing. As I watched his video I thought about, if I was dying I would want to think that my life allowed me to achieve my dreams.   

The following link is to Randy’s last lecture, I hope you find it as powerful as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

My Thoughts on the End of Life Video...

Watching the End of Life video in the learning plan for this week, made me think about what I would do in some of those situations that they provided. For me it was easy to decide where I stand on certain situations, and then it was harder at times for me to choose a side for some of the others. My feelings were not clear in certain situations. I believe there is not a right or wrong answer for everyone. What you decide is right depends on your own feelings and values. As I thought about this video the ethical idea that I started to think about, was natural law. Natural law as describe in the learning plan, states “according to natural law ethical theory, the moral standards that govern human behavior are, in some sense, objectively derived from the nature of human beings.” What this meant to me was that using this theory means that it has to be part of who I am as a human being. What helped me understand this was the passage from Romans 2:15, “They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness.” As I was viewing the videos I noticed that I was feeling more, than I was thinking. This ties to the passage that in Romans that it is written on our hearts. I also found that some of the bulleted highlights of the breeze presentation reinforced the ideas of the relationship between natural law and the situations described in the video. Natural law is engraved on our hearts, it identifies what it means to be human. It is not external to the human person, and moral truths are built on general moral principals reflecting our shared human nature. All of this reinforced the idea that I had to think about these situations from a shared experience where I had shared feelings and needed to put myself in their situation to determine how I would behave if I was in their place.

 As for the first scenario that they painted, the one with the parents deciding on their child staying on the ventilator to live, I had a tough time choosing a side. For I am neither a parent, nor am I even married. I still find that this would be a very hard choice to make. I think that the parents would want to keep their child alive, as well as they do not want their child to suffer and have a terrible life. I would not want to make that decision and I hope that I never have too.

 The next situation that they brought up was about the grandmother having Alzheimer’s disease. She told her husband, after being diagnosed by the doctor, that she does not want to be placed on machines or tubes to be kept alive. Together they made a legal document that stated her requests. When the time came that she needed medical treatment that involved machines and tubes, the husband wanted to refuse. Although the daughter of the grandmother stated that her mother told her to keep her alive. I feel that the legal document should be followed and upheld. And if there is no legal document, the wishes of the husband should be followed. Although it is a hard decision to make, but if he knows what she wants then they should follow her requests.

 Last they talked about a woman that had cancer. This woman wanted to have the word of her doctor that he or she would help end her life peacefully if it came to a time when she no longer wanted to fight and suffer. I felt that this was the most difficult scenario to choose a side. I myself would find it very difficult or impossible give the patient any help in ending their life. I feel that only God can decide that it is time. I would though stop treating, and caring for the patient, if they decided that they no longer wanted to receive, or go forth with more procedures. I do feel that it is your right to deny medical treatment if you so choose. I also thought about the needs of the patient who is dying and maybe suffering, and the fact that they are suffering with no hope of getting better. Is it right to let a persons finale months, weeks, days, hours, be filled with pain and suffering? I have mixed feelings related to this scenario.

He Who Dies With All the Gold Doesn't Win...

"He who dies with all the gold doesn't win", is a very important saying to remember. For life is more important than the valuables that you obtain. In the end everything that you collected means nothing when you die.

Life is all about relationships, in my opinion. It is about the people that you meet and the experiences that you have with those people. For experiences and memories stay with you forever even if you have a falling in life and lose everything. 

I believe that having a good friend is better than any obtainable object. For a truely good friend will always be there for you no matter how rich or well know you are. That special bond that you make with that preson is priceless, just like in those mastercard comericals.