Means And Ends

To my son Tommy,

In attempt to break from the norm, which includes basic medical posts and situation reports, I will again try to delve into the depths of the philosophical.  Perhaps using my mind for some thinking on a greater than normal magnitude will clear the cobwebs induced by the cold remedies I am taking.  At the least it will be a welcomed diversion and might be quite entertaining to read when I am not hopped up on NyQuil or Sudafed.

Would you murder one innocent person to save one million people?
Would you murder one innocent person to save just one other person?
Would you murder one innocent person to save five people?
Would you murder 200,001 people to save 378,543 people?

If you ever start exploring questions like these, you are exploring the question if ends justify the means.  You are exploring if you are willing to do something inherently bad for a good result.  You are also exploring if you are willing to forgive someone for the evils they did if the result is sufficiently good.

In my limited human capacity, I occasionally believe there are times when the end results justify the means, but I temper that with the end results don't excuse the means.  This means if I choose to do something wrong for a greater good, I must also be willing to accept the consequences and realities of that choice.  In my thinking, the ends don't necessarily eliminate the punishment for my actions.

Say for example that I am a police officer.  I have the chance to get a very bad guy off the streets and make the world a safer place.  But in order to accomplish this, I have to trample over some laws and some of his rights.  Would you do it?  It almost seems like a no brainer?  But if I chose to do it, I should also be willing to lose my job and face a prison sentence myself.  If the ends are so great that I am willing to compromise my own moral compass than I should be willing to accept any results of my actions.  Many use the ends vs means argument to free themselves from repercussions.  Though end result might get you more mercy, you can't rely on this.  You have to be willing to accept the full punishment for any wrongful action regardless if the results were good or not.

Life isn't easy and we are faced with difficult choices day in and day out.  We fill our lives with little white lies and other harmless transgressions.  We temper our actions with rationalizations and reasons that invoke results "for the greater good" or future penances.  It begins us down that proverbial slippery slope.  The actions begin small but will get bigger and so will the questions and so will the grey area.

What man among us would fault someone for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family?  Yet do we condone this action because of the dire need or because he stole only a little?  If he stole a priceless diamond to feed his family for years, do we apply the same leniency?  And what of the man who refused to steal even though he and his family were also starving?  Do we look better or worse upon such a man?  And where do we hold accountable the rich man who has plenty?

It is easy to see how the questions get murkier every time you decide to justify a bad action with a good result.  Once again, I don't have any answers for you.  Try your hardest and consider all things.  You will get this wrong from time to time, as all men do.  Do not shirk from the consequences of your actions nor hide behind the results.  Luckily our transgressions amount to a drop in the ocean that is the infinite grace and forgiveness of God which when sought by the penitent man will truly free us from ourselves.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo

Sound Bite Mentality

To my son Tommy,

I was planning on writing to you about power.  I was going to suggest to you how if you are ever given power over people it comes with a whole bunch of responsibility and scrutiny. It all stemmed from a recent viral video that the media put out from a town hall in Towson discussing a new education change called "Common Core"

I am not here to debate common core or the merits or lack there of for the system.  But one parent at the public forum evidently was quite passionate about it and had a few "questions".  Instead of working within the framework set up for the meeting, this guy decided to break from the norm and exercise his first amendment right of free speech.  When he continued to be a disturbance to the proceedings, the powers that be exercised their right to remove him so they could continue to peacefully assemble.  An off duty police officer moonlighting as a security guard removed him. And someone caught it on video.  So far just about everything is okay, people exercising their rights and such, but the guy was arrested and handcuffed and faces a combined $5000 in fines and 10 years 6 months in prison which is where I took offense.  And it may seem that the police report includes a falsehood to justify the arrest.

The video shown to cause such outrage has been edited so much by different media outlets to serve their own purpose.  It is a common practice nowadays by many media outlets to pick out what they want to hear or  what they want you to hear or see or what they can use to get ratings to sell toothpaste (which is what it is all about).  It happens all the time from what this politician says to that politician to NFL game clips to the pope to you tube videos of common people to just about everything.  You can't believe what you see anymore without researching.  You need unedited versions to feed your curiosity and then make informed decisions on your own and not be led to whatever conclusion the "editor" wants you to reach.  I jumped to a judgement and for that I am kind of ashamed.  I call so many people out for jumping to judgement without the facts but this video caught my sensibilities of right or wrong square in the eyes and it didn't really matter at that time how edited it was.  I fell for for the "sound bite" mentality and I should know better.

Though I think the whole thing warrants looking into, and though I have no clue as to what the rules are for moonlighting with a badge, I re-learned how easily it is to jump to conclusions and get yourself all passionate.  If it weren't for some level headed minds pushing me to ask a few questions and perhaps watching some over the top reactions on twitter that made me look calm, I probably would still be in quite the uproar.  As it turns out I have recently been trying to diversify where I get my news so I can be a bit better informed.  But just know that no matter how diversified your news outlets are, no matter how educated and even minded you think you are, it still is easy to get caught up in the passion without the logic.  It can start fights and wars and false arrests and all kinds of mess when highly charged negative emotions lead the way.  What is tough in your life is to take a step back and say maybe there is something more to this and keep an open mind to all the facts.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo