Creative Solutions to Moral Dilemmas

You hold the lever that decides the path of the train, but more importantly, whether the 20 people or the 1 infant will die.

Which will it be?

Should we protect the voiceless, unborn child? Or the reproductive rights of the oppressed?

Which will it be?

Should I spend that money on a low emissions car, or give the money to feed the homeless?

Which will it be?

Moral decision making is often hard. There are times where things we value come into distinct opposition with each other. Now, this isn't always the case. Often, in fact, quite often, the moral choice is clear and good, and that immoral one not worth even wasting time thinking about. Most of us do not struggle with the possibility of assaulting every passerby to acquire their wallet. But as funds thin down, we lose our homes, and our children start to starve... the contents of a strangers wallet start to promise an end to our very real suffering.

And so it has been, that throughout the history of moral contemplation, deciding between two misfortunes has been the prevailing concern. And why not? The hard questions are always more interesting than the easy ones, after all, and it it precisely in the difficult situations where true character shows itself.

So choose. The majority or the innocent. Life or choice. The ozone or the starving.

Its a hard thing to do.

Pursuing the greatest good actually makes it even harder. The founding principle behind the notion of the greatest good is a picture of the world where all goods come to be. While in its total manifestation such a miracle is only going to become a reality in the event of supernatural aid (and that is what will ultimately happen), this model is still of value to those of us who work with human hands.

We are challenged to see the good on both sides of moral dilemmas, and seek to obtain both goods.

Let us consider abortion. Current politics would have you choose. Choose between the plight of the totally defenseless child or the liberty and thriving of the mother. Conflicts flare up around issues such as when the child becomes a person or who should be notified in the case of the operation. The issue starts getting remarkably muddy very quickly.

But on another level, it is all very simple. On the one hand we have the life of the child, and on the other we have the liberty of the mother.

Take a look at a few documents concerning our nations founding ideas... and we've got problems. The state of society, current medical technology, and personal action all swirl together in a way that puts these two valuable things at odds.

But, for those of us committed to the greatest good we must not hasten to one or the other. Rather, we must keep thinking. Can we imagine a world where mothers had no desire to kill the child in their womb? Or perhaps a way to make a woman un-pregnant while preserving the life of the fetus?

What if the values of society were different? What if, though the inspiring and compassionate revelation of reality all people saw the new life as holy and sacrosanct? Not likely to be killed then. Of course, by all people that would have to include employers, teachers, social services, peers, parents, friends, and children... no matter the circumstances of the pregnancy or the conception. In this way most unborn children would live because most women would choose life, uncoerced and unintimidated by a world ready to help her bear their infant into the world.

Or,

What of advanced medical technology that could safely extract the fetus as it matured in the womb? Harmlessly and anonymously the woman becomes un-pregnant, and at the same time the child grows in its surrogate mother (be it another woman or a medical facility). Could not then these two values be reaffirmed?

It is only in our weakness, ignorance, and awkwardness that we are forced into moral dilemmas. In a perfect world, the world to which we feebly aspire, all things move into ripe wellness with grace and vitality. We are called then to refuse to choose between goods, and strive to find creative answers to the problems that plagued our predecessors.

For there is something wrong with a world where people kill their own babies and the starving must steal to eat. When we see such things... its time to change the world.