Every human life is a gift

Years ago I took a course in business ethics. The instructor highlighted the difficulty in making moral decisions in complicated environments. One thing he said stays with me. He said that, in our society, people have their rights and powers mixed up. Simply having the power does not include having the right to use it.

A. recent Fence Post letter reminded me of this (S. Jedlinski, Jan. 18). Although her letter was about the Obama health care plan, her closing paragraph really relates to ethics and morality. In it, she promised to “respect the wishes of those who choose to ‘live’ out their final years tethered to a respirator and a feeding tube . . .” She asks in return “to be afforded the same courtesy, even if I opt for physician-assisted suicide.”

Certainly, she has the power to take her own life, even if there were no Dr. Kevorkians willing to help. However, the authority to exercise this power would only be hers if Jedlinski could also claim the power to generate or cause her own life. Certainly this is ridiculous. Her life, as all of our lives, is a gift not a right. Just ask the parent of any special needs child or the spouse of a handicapped or seriously ill husband or wife.

It is easy? Certainly not. Can we try to be better in spite of it? That is our choice. As a school bus driver for “special needs” students, I see heroes every day.

Charles Glomski

Elk Grove Village