Bioethics Discussion Blog: Looking Ahead at The Road of Life

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Looking Ahead at The Road of Life



The topic of this thread is very simple. How should a person look at and anticipate their life? Is one’s life like moving on down a road? Does one need a map or directions from others? Is progression by walking or riding? What should one expect is the condition of the road, paved or full of rocks and potholes? Has anyone any way to smooth the path or is pain, suffering, ill health and uncertainty to be expected as one traverses the road? Is life diminished in value or significance if none of these occur and the ride is smooth and secure? And how does the road end, as a road to glory or, without warning, as a dead end? Maybe I was wrong. The topic may not be simple. However, I suspect that how one looks at and anticipates their life is how one sets their moral and ethical views and behavior. ..Maurice.

Addendum: Graphic is a photograph taken by me on a trail in Placerita Canyon Park in Southern California, December 23, 2007.

4 Comments:

At Monday, December 24, 2007 9:02:00 PM, Blogger My Own Woman said...

Roads may be smooth and straight for long periods of time; those roads lull you into a false sense of security and tend to make your eyes heavy with boredom. But then suddenly, the road twists and turns and at times there are big potholes that we try to avoid but many times find ourselves hitting them.

It's not what road we find ourself on, it's what we do once we are on that road. Do we change directions and get back to the smoothness or do we allow ourselves to go off road for a time and find adventure? Do we sit in the potholes waiting for someone to pull us out of the deep cracked pavement or do we pull ourselves out?

I don't think it's necessarily how we view the road we take because I do believe the road takes us places that we may not want to go at times; it is really a question of do we let the road control us, or do we control the road?

 
At Tuesday, December 25, 2007 12:14:00 AM, Blogger Maurice Bernstein, M.D. said...

Interesting philosophy. But how do we "control the road"? Do you think that it is by planning ahead and how much benefit will that provide us since it is very possible, as you say, that the road will not lead us to where we really want to go?

Finally, what I would like to know is whether life is diminished in value or significance if the ride is smooth and secure? What I am getting at is whether "pain, suffering, ill health and uncertainty" are all essential requirements for a life to be meaningful on that road to glory. Otherwise, you haven't really lived?? ..Maurice.

 
At Tuesday, December 25, 2007 6:12:00 PM, Blogger My Own Woman said...

Should one plan? Yes. But we must never forget that our future is now. What does it profit us if we plan for the future and before we realize it the future is behind us? Perhaps we can not control the road, but we can control what we do on that road.

Are pain, suffering, ill health and uncertainty necessary on the road to glory? I'd love to live my life without all of that, but how then will I know what the good times are if all I've had was good?

A diamond shines the brightest when it is placed against a black background. A pearl is most illuminating when it is laid upon a simple black cloth. How bright do we know these things truly are if the blackness was not there to show how magnificent the light is?

Perhaps we, as humans, are the same. How can I know your pain if I've had none of mine? If I can not "know" my fellow man, then yes, my life is diminished.

 
At Tuesday, December 25, 2007 8:23:00 PM, Blogger Maurice Bernstein, M.D. said...

Beautiful and meaningful answers to my questions. Thank you. ..Maurice.

 

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