He ought to smarten up and do the right thing& She should change her ways& You must stop doing that. Words like ought, should and must creep into our conversation. The real questions are: Who knows what is right and what is wrong? Who decides? Are there universal standards of behaviour? Who sets the limits?
It would be convenient if the answers to these questions became simpler as we accumulate years and experience. However, it does not seem to work that way. As the years go by, life becomes more complicated. Moral dilemmas are more challenging. We may be wiser as we get older but life does not become simpler. The ideals that are important to me may not matter to others. There is a vast difference between the values of our grandparents and our grandchildren.
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Anna Fitzgerald, the 11-year-old character in the movie My Sister s Keeper, raises some moral questions. Her older sister Kate is dying of leukemia. Anna debunks the idea that all babies are brought into loving and welcoming homes. She says most babies are coincidences, the products of drunken evenings and lack of birth control.
Anna says, I was engineered for a particular reason to save my sister s life. I was created in a test tube to get a perfect chromosome match so my body parts could be used to save my sister s life.
Anna s mother Sarah is totally focused on prolonging Kate s life. Anna s welfare is disregarded. Her body endures medical procedures which prolong her sister s life. The mother imposes her will without regard to others. When the matter goes to court, Sarah argues for what she wants for Kate without consideration for Anna s rights and wishes. Anna is wise beyond her years. She listens to doctors and other expert witnesses as they give their opinion. She sums up their testimony, They all said it was a very complex problem, and that none of it was their fault.
Anna s comment is perceptive. Each of us sees situations through what sociologists call our frame of reference. What is right for me may be wrong in your view, or vice versa. The caller to a phone-in radio program described life in his town. Things are tough down here. It is dog eat dog, and vice versa. Our values are formed by many factors, including for example, childhood influences, religious and civic teaching, and experience.
The mother desperately tries to manipulate the situation in a futile attempt to extend her daughter Kate s life. In the end Kate prepares her mother for the inevitable. On her deathbed Kate tells her mother, When I went away to camp you told me to take a seat on the left side of the bus so I would be able to look back and see you. I am taking the same seat now.
Ultimately, each of us lives by our own values, and we make our decisions accordingly. The character Job in the Bible was a good man who underwent almost unbelievable pain and sorrow. His friends came to him with many explanations but they did not answer his questions. Finally he catches a clearer vision of God than he has experienced before. He says, In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. When he accepts the reality of his situation, and his experience becomes personal, he can deal with it. Is life much different for you and me?
SuggestedScripture:Job42:1-6,Revelation21:1-8
