I get the idea, Judith, I'm just not sure that a person needs to fear a G-d or a higher power or whatever to do the right thing. I don't think one needs to have fear in order to be moral or ethical. While fear or concern about the negative consequences in the hear-after might help, a person can also have a pre-disposition to do the right thing because he or she understands that "no man is an island." Our actions have consequences beyond ourselves and we have a responsibility to other people, that it is in our own best interest to be concerned about other people.
H. -----Original Message----- From: Judith Dinowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 11:36 PM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: I'm speechless ... Okay, let's not say G-d. Let's say a higher power -- call it moral responsibility, if you want. A responsibility to a power beyond oneself. This woman had one overriding fear: fear of what would happen to her at the hands of other people if this person was saved and they found out that she had been drinking under the influence. Fear of the court system. Fear of punishment by human hands. She did not think of anything above herself. There was nothing beyond humanity that she feared. That is what I meant. I call it G-d. But you get the idea. Judith >But the schools already teach a morality -- they teach moral relativism. >That is a value system. I was certainly first exposed to situational ethics >in high school (that was in the late '70s). Many of my peers and younger >have told me the same stories, including a 21-year-old friend today who said >he just can't relate to the lack of moral centers in his peers today). And >even if Beth were correct that they don't teach moral relativism, I think we >would all agree that they don't teach morals. And that, too, is teaching a >value system -- a value system that says there are no morals (a lesson by >omission), there is no right and wrong, all moral and ethical decisions are >relative. > >We can only surmise what this poor woman thought as she visited her victim >every few hours as he lay dying in her windshield -- but is it such a leap >in logic to conclude that she thought, "I can't help this man because if I >do, I'll get in trouble." That is the thinking of a moral relativist, a >situational ethicist. She is thinking, as situational ethicists do, of her >own well being first. And the scary thing is, she worked in the health care >profession. > >I don't even think we need to bring G-d into this. Morality isn't purely a >religious question. It's also a rational question. We have a responsibility >to our fellow humans, especially to render aide when it is within our >physical abilities to do so. That is a bright line of morality that you >don't need the Bible or the Quran or the Torah or the Bagnagita to teach >you. It is something you know instinctively unless it's been propagandized >out of you. > >There is no comparison between the evil that has been wrought in times past, >when maybe morality was a little more forcefully taught, and what this woman >did. This woman is no Charles Manson, no Jack the Ripper, no Boston >Strangler -- criminals who ruthlessly hunted down their victims. This is a >woman who probably in her every day life is a very nice lady. She probably >even donates to charity. In other words, she's just an average American. But >when faced with a tough moral decision, she choose the self-serving action. >It's a choice nobody with even a modicum of understanding of personal >responsibility could make. > >And even more telling about the state of morality and ethics in this country >is that this women apparently had no trouble finding friends to help her. > >H. > ______________________________________________________________________ Macromedia ColdFusion 5 Training from the Source Step by Step ColdFusion http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201758474/houseoffusion Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
