Snippets Of Me

Black, White and Gray

Thursday, March 12, 2009

We were talking about ethical considerations for a retail buyer in class just yesterday where Prof. Freathy pointed out some issues that were clearly wrong like using suppliers who use child labour or who bribe buyers so that they are guaranteed business. He also pointed out some other ethical issues that were ‘gray’. For example, should a buyer be able to ask for exclusivity rights from a supplier or ask for compensation for slotting in the supplier’s new merchandise?

This reminded me about Eric’s session on overcoming the gray areas in our life. Gray being not clearly wrong and not clearly right either. Neither black nor white, but gray. It’s been a few years now, but I still remember it quite vividly in my mind. He brought us to the passage of Jesus’ temptation in the desert (Matt 4:1-11) He asked us the oddest question. He said, ‘Jesus was in the desert for forty days and was hungry. When the devil asked him to turn the stones into loaves, was that a good thing?’

We all knew in our minds that it wasn’t a good thing because of the way Jesus responded to the devil. But he told us to think about it logically. Since Jesus was hungry, how was turning the stones into bread a bad thing? He said, 'Think about it logically. If you're hungry, if you had the power to turn stone into bread, it isn't a bad thing because you're merely feeding yourself.' It didn’t take much convincing for us to be persuaded that turning the stones into bread was in fact a good thing. And that was exactly the reality of the situation.

It was a good thing.

But was it the best thing to do?

The gray areas that we encounter in our life, do we do just what’s good? Or what’s best?

I was faced with such a gray issue when reading Kerri’s blog the other day. Obama has reversed the stem cell policy to fund research for embryonic stem cell research. This could potentially find a cure for diabetes and bring hope for the thousands living with the disease. This could mean that I might no longer need Tommy attached to me anymore and have to prick my fingers 5 times a day. It would mean no more hating horrible hypos and having erratic effects of the disease. No more living with the possibility of the numerous complications.

But I could never support this. How many innocent embryos would have been annihilated before they could or could not find a cure? There is a holocaust hidden behind the walls of these laboratories that deprives these lives of ever being able to move, live and breathe.

Please say a decade of the rosary with me tonight for the hearts of the people in power and for the little darlings that will not live to see life outside a petri dish.

Read the article here.

Rachel wrote in the pages of her life at 7:25 PM

0Comments | Leave a snippet of you

0 Comments: