RE: There Are Rules: Finish the Story Contest #31
Wow! Well, that triggers some things in me. I feel a dilemma and it carries me to very fundamental questions that you raise here. Luke acted wrong, I'd say. He acted, as it seems, not on the basis of an existing rule, but on the basis of revenge. And yet this rule has only just come in handy to him. This is an infamous act and I think other readers would probably see it that way. I have not yet looked at what they write, because I wanted to answer uninfluenced. You use a very interesting question: Whose life should one save? As a rule, this is discussed on the basis of an emergency, for example at an accident site, where a doctor has to decide quickly who to take care of first. This is a very responsible task and mistakes are likely and human. In Luke's case it is different. An opportunity presents itself on his plate and he seizes it without a guilty conscience. One could sympathize with him and say: the old doctor deserves what he sowed. An eye for an eye? But people are also known for not being able to live well with guilt. Even if the revenge tastes sweet for a moment, it does pursue you in the form of a conscience that comes later. If you're not a perfect psychopath and mentally disturbed, Luke will also be haunted by such an emotion. Guilt can devour people and drive them further in a destructive direction. But it can also trigger catharsis. In any case Luke did not act ethically, his last thought reflects this well.
On an even deeper level it is about written and unwritten rules. As soon as a rule is defined, it often causes more difficulties than it solves problems (in so far as the application of a rule then becomes a dispute, I mean). The worst things often happen at the boundary between exceeding or falling short of a rule. I mean this in relation to some ethical principles. For example, I believe that it is not necessary to have a written law to see that you should not kill other people. The unwritten law is very effective here. People also have a sense of what would be against the prevailing customs, such as sitting in a public square in daylight and doing your toilet business. I know, a somewhat stupid example:)
One could also say that the student has very effectively taken his teacher as a role model and in general one wonders how one wants and should be a role model. In any case, your story has great potential for discussion!
I think we should make another contest out of your story to tell further what happens to Luke in the weeks and months after his committed act.
Ah, you do see to the heart of my story. Hence, the title. Of course, Luke will be seized with guilt (unless he's a psychopath) for the rest of his life--not because he followed a rule but because he acted out of revenge. The cruelty, the immorality, of a rule is that it lets people off the hook. They can defer responsibility for what they do to another authority. This abdication of responsibility leads to all kinds of miscarriages. So, the question for me in the story was less about Luke's revenge, which set an entertaining backdrop for a discussion about rules, than it was about moral, individual responsibility vs. authority.
Of course, some rules don't have much of a moral component: turn your cell phone off in a movie theater, for example. But many rules do.
Certainly the rules that govern use of resources in medicine--and these do exist--have a profound moral component.
So nice of you to be clever and see my point. Thanks for engaging in an interesting discussion. I haven't had coffee yet so I'm not answering with all my circuits charged :)
yes, how you designed this story clearly carries this meaning.
Indeed. Tons of material out there on how prison guards and executives of the "Drittes Reich" were just following the rules. There are inherent ones, one cannot escape though. Whatever one will do further on, guilt will remain until one can get healed from hurting an ethical principle.
How was your weekend?
And not just the "Drittes Reich", but prisons all over the world, and soldiers at war, and doctors....all of us. Anyway,
My weekend was peaceful, quiet and happy. My brother, who lives in a distant city, celebrated his birthday and my son was my emissary. I couldn't go. First-hand reports came back and they were quite good.
I hope you also had a peaceful, happy weekend. I'm ready for my next blog, next story, next writing adventure. I always begin in one place and end up in another. It's an adventure!
nod, nod, nod. All of us, true.
Bummer that you couldn't join your brothers birthday. Good that we are having all the modern devices to get some sense of the gatherings which take place without us:)
My weekend was relaxing and I had a good time.
Curious, what your adventure leads you to and will comment as always.
I don't know. I would like to write another STEM-article but then I am so absorbed by the writers community and doing recordings. Also, I think, I already said everything related to my profession and I could only repeat myself. lol. ... Maybe I am just too lazy. It's a hell lot of work to be accurate and to fulfill the standard I set for myself.
The writers community is rich. Have you checked out @calluna's tell a story to me? Also, the haiku here. I know nothing about haiku, but @marcoriccardi wrote a beautiful clear guide. I think this is something you would be good at and have great fun doing. Also, as for the science--these are the blogs that take such a long time for me to write. I'm learning. Everything I write about is a new door opening--an adventure. I go slowly and write other pieces as I research. Always, my heart and my interest lead.
If we follow the path, we'll get there:)
The important part is to have fun.🎪 My husband reminds me of that all the time.
I have checked it all. Haiku sounds interesting - I came to know of it through Buddhism:)
Goodness, there is so much beauty out there.
I still have to learn to be relaxed in also missing things and not become stressed by FOMO (fear of missing opportunities).
Laughter.
Your handling I like because you stick to your pace and "I cut myself a piece from it", as we say in Germany:)
Say hello to your husband. He is right.
:)
We should brush up on Immanuel Kant and others, me thinks..
... so much heard about him but never read a piece of Kant. Therefore I cannot say that I understand what he was publishing. I am afraid of doing so because it certainly will suck me up from a looooong time. lol.
But you know a lot about Buddhism...Eight-Fold Path will do it :)
So you do know something, too! :) I welcome the influence it takes on my way to deal with relationships to people and the world. If you are interested, I can throw in some names of monks/nuns who give talks on youtube. But I guess, you'll find them anyway.
Yes, I can, thank you. You have also influenced me :)
"Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the moral law within me". Immanuel Kant
@f3nix: it's been a long time....
Yes.. I remember zero lol.. what a shame after years of study.