I understand that as human beings, we’ve been bred with the need or want to procreate and survive. I know that we have also, over the years, in order to cope with our fears of that death we’re trying to prolong from happening, invented this whole series of people up in the sky telling us what happens after death, what we should do, how to live. I know too that people usually want to live, or have their children live.
Here’s an article a few people I know have brought to my attention recently. A thirteen year old boy whose parents have objected to modern medicine for “religious reasons” are now being forced to give him chemotherapy because they were supposedly neglecting him.
I am a moral relativist, and beyond that, I believe that everyone should be allowed to do what they want with their own bodies. Forcing modern medicine on someone is no better than not having it as an option. Forcing science above someone’s religion is not morally superior, but yet, because science supposedly has a better chance of working, that is what is seen as “right.”
People are making such a huge deal of this because he’s only thirteen but I think it’s possible to explain to a thirteen year old that he is going to die unless he does certain things, and if he would rather do whatever other remedies besides chemo, he could choose.
However, I believe everything should be taken on a case by case basis. I probably am just not educated enough about the situation, so I refuse to say whether or not the court should step in. What enrages me is the amount of people who are calling this child abuse or neglect just because it’s a different opinion.
It just goes in line with, again, another conversation I had recently where someone I know told me that Miss California shouldn’t be allowed to speak her mind because she’s against gay marriage. What?! I disagree with Miss California, but she still has the right to express her opinion, as she’s not trying to incite.
It’s some sort of faulty logic where people begin to believe that their opinion on a topic has become fact, or that there’s always this one-size-fits-all option for situations like free speech or medical treatments.
