[Vision2020] On feeling every being's pain

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Dear Tony, Donovan, and mekt7 (do you have a name?),

Tony, perhaps you are not experienced enough in debate to realize that the consensus is that people who call their opponens "Nazis" automatically lose the debate no matter how good their arguments are.  I learned this lesson a long time agon, and now perhaps you can learn it, too.

You guys don't even know me, so let me tell you a little about myself.  I was the kid in the neighborhood who defended cats from ruffians that wanted to set them on fire. (I would defend the incredible feline who now lies on my desk with my life.) I still am the kid who tries to save as many drowning worms as possible after a big rain. 

I worked as a fire fighter for seven summers to put myself through school, and I always experienced equal parts awe and disgust as my fellow males declared war on every living thing in the woods.  Most of the wasp stings were the result of provocation rather than letting the innocent creatures be.  (Isn't it sad that we seem to be the only animals that commit violence just for the fun of it?)  As my crewmates squashed everyinsect (no wasps that I can remember) in our bus, I gave them a sermon on the law of karma.  Yes, they thought I was weird, but I thought they were cruel and insenstive.

I became a vegetarian (very easy to do in India in 1992) out respect for the dignity of animal life, and I wonder if any of you guys have shown as much respect for all living beings.  "Pro-life" has to include all livings unless you can tell me what separates human life from wasp life.  Tony has shown us how easy it was to admit that humans are valuable because they are persons with a significant mental life.

No, Donovan, I do not encourage bashing out the brains of any living being, even one without much of a brain.  But I do believe that it is important for doctors to know that they do not have to risk the life of the mother and fetus by using unnecessary anesthesia.

As I have argued on this list, the fetus up to 25 weeks is not a person according to our religious, legal, moral traditions.  According to the law, persons are the only beings that can be murdered, so that means that we have to respect the right of a woman to decide for herself whether she wants to bring that early human life into the world.

If we had decent reproductive education and laws that fully protected a woman's choice, then we could easily have the lowest abortion rate in the world. Instead we have some the highest rates. We could then approach the ideal of every child being a wanted child.

Nick Gier