Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Moral Quandary

"They need to take an anticoagulant, like warfarin (sold under the brand name Coumadin)"

Warfarin.

Sounds like warfaring without the "g." Warfarin'

"He was a warfarin' kind a guy. He liked to wage war."

This is an apt, possible description of the man about whom the first line of this post was written in today's New York Times.

Former Vice President and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

Mr. Cheney has recently had a pump implanted in his body to help his heart push blood through his arteries. He has long had heart trouble and this device will help.

Warfarin is a drug that Mr. Cheney needs to take to aid in the process.

Here's my dilemma. And I mean this from the bottom of my searched soul.

Should I care if he lives or dies? Should I wish him health, happiness and peace or should I hope he dies a horrible painful death, alone in the cold and dark?

I really am torn here. The example we always use is that of Adolph Hitler. Would we have wished him drawn and quartered in the town square or left tied down, spread eagle in the desert sun with sugar on his mouth so the ants could nibble away at him? Or was he a child of God, full of fears and frailties crying out for love, deserving of forgiveness from his fellow man?

From all I have read, seen and heard of Dick Cheney over the years he impresses me as a man with no heart (metaphorically) and a man singlemindedly focused on his own needs and the needs of his corporate puppetmasters. War, war, war...fear, fear, fear. That's what he seems to be about. Oh, and Halliburton, Halliburton, Halliburton, too...

But then you could think of him as a family man, devoted to his wife and daughters and defensive of their privacy and choices. And you could think of him as a man dedicated to the preservation of the Republic and privy to intelligence information that makes him very afraid of what the enemy can do. And his deference to his business associates can be seen as part of the free enterprise, capitalist model that we are all taught is the Utopia just waiting for those of us who make the most of our opportunities.

Dick Cheney. Hero or Villain.

Do we wish him well during the twilight of his life, hunting, writing, playing with his grandchildren, enjoying the serenity of his retirement and the adulation of his fans?

Or do we see him hung upside down from the tallest oak in Wyoming watching as his new pump strains to move his blood as the batteries wear down and he expires, slowly and with frightened eyes?

I really don't know about this one.

Any suggestions...?

2 comments:

  1. Interesting that you have a 'hesitation', a moral quandary regarding a man who 'cleverly' participated in '911', the Iraq War, decision making member of the Board of Trustees of Monsanto, 'accidentally' shoots his lawyer while hunting for 'game' and on and on. Why can't he just die like any other patient who has a heart problem. Why should a man responsible for so many unfortunate deaths live. He certainly trades the almighty buck for thousands of lives as he 'charmingly' smiles wickedly as he counts his billions of ill gotten gains. I have no moral quandary here....the sooner he's gone the sooner we will have brighter days to view our futures.

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  2. It's a philosophical thing really...less about Cheney, the man, and more about the concept of "Love Thy Neighbor", etc...

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