Well, not really. I was wearing shorts today (at least until I went to Journalism, where my class is usually 10 degrees colder than the outdoors).
I just write of a dreary "November" because that's from Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein," which I'm reading for Humanities.
The opening sentence starts the chapter where Victor Frankenstein recounts the night his creature came to life.
My section leader in Humanities is a Philosophy Major who specializes in medical ethics. In discussion group, we brought up some serious topics about in vitro fertilization, cloning, and "playing God."
We discussed the fact that the term "mother" has expanded in the last 23 years thanks to artificial insemination. Tthe first "test tube baby" graduated from college last year; this isn't very new stuff.
A mother can be the person who provides the egg, carries the baby through gestation, or raises the child.
The question was asked, "Who get's the card on Mother's Day?"
Hang on folks, it doesn't get any easier.
Topics expanded to ethics of cloning. I mentally asked myself "Does a clone have a soul? If yes, if life begins at conception, where does the spare soul come from?"
Should people who can't reproduce naturally do so with laboratory assistance. The case was brought up of a woman who was diagnosed with a gene that would prompt the early onset of Alzheimers (which then prompted jokes about "Now where did I put the baby...?" ).
Then came questions of genetically designed babies and revised family relations. What are the differences in bonds between a couple who go through nine months naturally and people who "pick up" their child after ordering him 9 months prior? Will this lead to more irresponsible parents and mistreated children?
When money is the determining factor in "accesorizing" your child, what options do you check or leave blank on the options list?
How can you avoid future confrontations with you child like: "Dad, I'd really like to thank you for saving $100 bucks and not option for the rope climbing genetic booster. My coach, however, did not appreciate your savings. I hate you!"
Or this touching family moment: "Son, you're having more troubles in life compared to your "souped up" friends because...well...you're a K-Mart Blue light special...."
I personally used morbid humor to keep ahead of some of the depressing topics. Making references to Gattaca and Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Junior" helped curve the blade of some of these depressing topics.
I held out till the final 5 minutes.
During a discussion about whether some embryos that are found to have genetic defects (and that technology is in place in some places) should be terminated, a person broke down talking about their mentally handicapped brother. Trying to hold back tears, she said by that standard, her brother doesn't deserve to live.
She cried softly for the rest of class.
I don't have the answer for all these ethical questions. "Playing God" has often been used as a negative slur, but more and more people seem willing to take up the task anyway.
Many of these humously propossed questions will enter into reality in the next few years. What the future holds, I've never claimed to know, but am comforted that someone has the answers out there.
After an entry that must cause to stop and pause and contemplate such sobering thoughts, turning your day into something more "dreary" than what you started, let me leave you with some words that do me much good.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand...
But I know who holds tomorrow...
And I know who holds my hand.
God bless.
