Tag: human life

Low Tech Solutions

HOMES AND HAVENS

We can change the world.  If we make one person’s life better, we have made the world a better place.  Its the star fish principle.  The media doesn’t spotlight simple, practical solutions because the media wants hype and drama.  This is a drama-free solution, but what an amazing difference it would make to someone struggling to find meaning and value in their life.

Homes and Havens

Having a safe and restful sanctuary is critical to good mental and physical health.  Its a simple idea – go in and decorate a living space  for a person recovering from trauma so they feel like they have a home.  Homes and Haves describe the work they do as: “We partner with local ministries that are helping women overcome abuse, addiction, homelessness, sex trafficking, and incarceration by helping furnish and decorate their new living spaces after graduating local programs. We design each space to be therapeutic and healing.”  

A volunteer’s story of her experience  said she was expecting the usual dismal, bland furnishings that people usually give away for free.  Something so worn out it couldn’t be sold on e-bay.  Something with no value left so its given to charity.  But instead she found Homes and Haven were providing lightly used furnishings, and using quality, cheerful paint to fix them up. 

She found Homes and Haven operate on a principle all of us know: “The message: this furniture was to show women that they were worth something really nice.  Surroundings could boost their self-esteem. As a volunteer, I did not merely take something substandard and make it satisfactory. No, I actually helped to create something beautiful which these women so heartily deserve.”

I would love to see this happening in every community.

Read original story here.
human life versus money on a scale
Foundations for Ethics

INTRINSIC VALUE

The meaning of life is at the heart of what ethics deals with.  Are we random mutations that have no plan or purpose for our existence?  Are we unique creations of a kind and loving God imbued with intrinsic value?  We will come up with very different answers to ethical problems depending on our position on a sliding scale between these two extremes.  Most religions fall somewhere closer to the latter. Most utilitarian approaches fall closer to the former.  While many people today want to live in a secular society, history has shown that choosing a position of intrinsic value is better for the people.

An example of how this plays out is that most Western countries have a high government standard regulating human testing of new products and medicine.  Western countries are historically high on the intrinsic value score.  So many researchers are turning to Third World countries that are low on the intrinsic value score.  There may be little or no government regulation.  They then perform research that many people would consider unethical.  There is often no informed consent.  Researchers can lie to subjects and mislead them about consequences and long term care.  Corporations justify such research by claiming it is for the greater good.  The quicker they develop their product, the more people they can help.  Humanity is taken as a conglomerate whole rather than individuals who have rights that should not be violated.

WHY SPEAK UP?

High intrinsic value scores grant the individual autonomy and informed consent.  Low intrinsic value scores use Utilitarian ethics and say that the primary principle is the most good for the most people.  While Utilitarian ethics sound good on the surface, the point is to get below the surface.  Utilitarian ethics can make a strong case for slavery as more people benefit than are abused.  Therefore, it is critical that while we embrace a secular society to be inclusive of all races and religions, we still maintain that human beings possess a fundamental dignity that governments and corporations cannot violate.

Finally, Utilitarian ethics seem to be chosen primarily by privileged individuals at the top getting the most good. Those of us in the middle need to speak up and add our voices  to the small group of people paying the price.  Circumstances can change and we might find ourselves in the smaller group one day.  Therefore, enlightened self interest insists on the ethics of bioethics and the intrinsic God-given value of life.