Progress is Measured by More than Grades

One of Carlow's Core Values is Student Progress.  As defined on Carlow Univerity's website, Student Progress is to "educate, challenge, and expect all students to uncover, expand, and realize their potential."  I feel that Student Progress is one of Carlow's most important Core Values, so I chose to practice this value for a week.  I chose to pick this value because discovering myself, my potential, and what I want to do with my life is something I have been struggling with lately.

I came to Carlow knowing I wanted to be a doctor.  That passion is beginning to fade- not because I do not think I can do it, but because I fell in love with so many other things I think I want to peruse.

While practicing Student Progress I made an extra effort to really learn in my courses.  Instead of doing the bare minimum to get by, I challenged myself to really learn the information being taught to me.  For example, instead of just studying my notes, I tried to make connections between what I was learning in one course with what I was learning in another. Not that I do not think school is a priority, but I waste so much time worrying about getting good grades that sometimes I lose sight of actually learning, enjoying myself, and my life.

In addition to working a little harder when it came to school work, I tried to fully commit myself to other things I was passionate about.  For example, I love running.  I used to run at least three miles a day and I tried to run at least two 5Ks a month.  Since I have been so busy with school, I have not been able to run the way I used to.  While practicing Student Progress I thought it was important to realize that although school is a priority, it is equally important be passionate about other things.  This is why I tried to make sure I ran and studied every day.  It took a little bit of getting used to but once I managed my time a little better, I realized it was not impossible.  I think this really helped me grow and learn my potential as both a person and student. 

What does this have to do with dignity?  I think realizing one’s potential is extremely important to self dignity.  We live in such a competitive word that people are so consumed with “doing everything right” and “trying to make it” that they lose sight of themselves and the things that they enjoy.  Student Progress is an important Core Value because progressing as a student is not just important academically, but Student Progress is also about realizing one’s self potential in life. 

Upholding Human Rights

Whenever asked to explore a time in my life in which dignity was upheld or restored I immediately thought of the March for Life in Washington, DC.  I thought of the March for Life because I have been asked multiple times to participate in the walk but I have been unable to go due to prior commitments.  The March for Life is a march that begins at Mall in Washington, DC and ends at Capitol Hill.  The March was created back in late 1973 by a group of people who were prolife that wanted to remember the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions in Roe vs. Wade that took place in January of 1973 without petitioning Congress.

The first March for Life occurred on January 22, 1974 and it is believed that approximately 20,000 Americans rallied and advocated to support life.  In that same year, the March for Life became a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-sectarian organization.  Since 1974 that March has continued to grow every year.  This year, 2011, marked for the 38th March for Life.  It is estimated that over 400,000 people participated in the walk and many participants were amazed that some marchers reached the end before some even left the beginning. 

What exactly are Marchers marching for?  According to the March for Life’s website, the Life Principles were created as a way to indicate the purpose of March for Life as well as explaining the beliefs of many prolife individuals.  The Life Principles state that “we hold these truths to be self-evident: That all human beings are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which is the right to life, and therefore the right to life of each human being shall be preserved and protected by every human being in the society and by the society as a whole…from that human being's biological beginning when the Father's sperm fertilizes the Mother's ovum, and…throughout the natural continuum of that human being's life by all available ordinary means and reasonable efforts…at each stage of the life continuum to the same extent as at each and every other stage regardless of state of health or condition of dependency… regardless of state of health or condition of dependency, and when there is any doubt that there exists a human being's life to preserve and protect, such doubt shall be resolved In favor of the existence of a human being, and when two or more human beings are in a situation in which their lives are mutually endangered, all available ordinary means and reasonable efforts shall be used to preserve and protect the life of each and every human being.”  The Life Principles also suggest that human life amendment should be added to the Constitution.

This is an example of dignity being upheld because hundreds of thousands of people are marching and advocating for human life.  Supporters value life, especially the lives of those who are unborn.  Hundreds of thousands of people are fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves.  The March for Life is an example of dignity being upheld because people who march and support the March for Life are restoring the dignity of others.  Supporters believe all people are created equal, "from that human being's biological beginning when the Father's sperm fertilizes the Mother's ovum"- meaning fetuses are people too. 

Now there are many arguments for and against those who are prolife.  In my colloquium class we have explored many opinions and views of human life.  Peter Singer, one of the most influential philosophers of our time, believes that a person is not a person unless he or she can be aware of one's existence in time.  He believes that the law should support the killing of those who are not a "person."  Meaning, if a mother wanted to kill her unborn child, that unborn child is not a person anyway.  Is awareness really a valid distinction of life?  On the other hand, there is the Catholic Social Teaching which, I believe, is pretty hand and hand with the March for Life's Life Principles.  The Catholic Social Teaching states: "human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met.  Every person has a fundamental right to life."  If every person has a fundamental right to life, how can one kill a fetus in abortion- especially because, as defined in the Principles of Life, a fetus is a person?  Then there is George Kateb.  Kateb values the individuality of a person.  In Human Dignity he says, "every human is unique without trying to be, "and "I have a life to live, it is my life and no one else’s; it is my only life, let me live.  I exist and no one can take my place."  I think Kateb's opinions are really important to consider when discussing something as important as life and death- especially when it comes to abortion.  When aborting a fetus, that fetus's life is stripped away.  Someone else decided that the fetus's life was not important enough to be lived- in a sense their dignity was not even considered.  This is why the March for Life is an example of restoring dignity.  The March for Life, as I said previously, is upholding the lives of all humans, even those who are not born yet. 

The debate over human life speaks a lot about what society is like today.  There are people who fight for life and people who fight against life.  I believe the largest part of the controversy, especially when discussing abortion, is defining when life begins.  I think it is safe to safe that everyone would agree that killing another human is wrong and strips away that individual's dignity, so why would killing a fetus be any different?  Well, not everyone agrees that a fetus is a person.  The Life Principles say that life begins when an egg is fertilized; Singer believes that life does not begin at that time because the zygote is not "aware".  The problem in that is that everyone has different beliefs.  I think it would be very hard for a consensus to be reached about when life actually begins.  If it were easy, it would have already been done.  While I am not sure of how this debate will play out, I do believe that the March for Life's Life Principles offers a unique solution- to add a human life amendment to the constitution.

Reproductive Rights

To research an example of human dignity violated in my lifetime I found an article titled "Dignity Denied: Violations of the Rights of HIV-Positive Women in Chilean Health Facilities" published in 2010.  The article focused on reproductive rights- more specifically, Chilean woman who were denied health care because they are HIV positive.  "Dignity Denied: Violations of the Rights of HIV Positive Women in Chilean Health Facilities" was published by the Center for Reproductive Rights who's mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom a a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill."  The article itself focused on 27 woman and the stories of how their dignity was violated. 

For example, an HIV positive pregnant woman and her partner chose to have a child even though she was HIV positive because her viral load was undetectable and the risk of mother-to-child transmission was low.  Despite the low risks the pregnancy was soon complicated.  After experiencing an orange discharge she was denied care.  Shortly after she was finally admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal pains and hemorrhaging.  While she should have received prompt medical attention, the hospital staff focused on HIV negative patients, even patients who arrived after she did, leaving her ignored.  She then suffered a miscarriage.

Another HIV positive woman was forced, by a doctor, to become sterilized during a cesarean delivery.  The woman arrived at the hospital the night before her scheduled C-section and went into labor.  She was taken to the operating room and the doctor performed a procedure to sterilize her without her consent.  She was quoted saying, "The treated me like I was less than a person.  It was not my decision to end my fertility; they took it from me." 

These are just two of the personal stories in the article, but the article also explores  information about HIV, statistics, prevention methods, and more.  My reaction to this article was pretty shocking.  It amazes me that people are able to discriminate against other just because they have HIV (or any disease, illness, or disorder for that matter).  Just because someone has a particular disease, illness, or disorder does mean they are any less human.  What bothered me even more though was the fact that they were discriminated by health care professionals.  Not only because they people taking care of them were, in fact, professionals, but because being a doctor is a service profession.  Doctors are there to help people, they are not there to judge and they cannot chose who receives medical attention.  In the first example, doctors decided that HIV negative women deserved more medical attention than HIV positive women.  The HIV positive women were discriminated against-their dignity was taken away.  In the second example, the women was sterilized without her consent.  A doctor decided that because she was HIV positive she no long deserved to reproduce- that doctor took her dignity.

This article spoke a lot about society and how society views individuals with HIV (or any other disease, illness, or disorder).  I think it goes to show that while we say everyone is created equal and deserves equal rights, we still have a long way to go to make that statement true.  Some people may be thinking, "Oh, that would never happen in the United States."  I realize that the report focused on Chilean woman, but we are all one human race.  I say that in a lot of my blog; but it is because I never thought about it like that until we started talking about universal human dignity in class and until I started reading about it in Kateb's article, Catholic Social Teachings, and other Rawl's article. Regardless, who is to say someone would not be denied health care because then are HIV positive in the United States and, more importantly, it should not be happening anywhere.

Where is the love?

We are all a part of one human race and we are all responsible for each other.

Dignity Final Project

I have been thinking a lot about the final project and what I would personally like to see come out of it.  I really want to focus on some sort of Dignity Awareness.  I think Dignity Awareness is important because this class has really opened my eyes to how many aspects of dignity there are and how many different ways peoples' dignity can be violated.  I was thinking it would be cool to remind people that they are important but also to remind people that they may be violating other people's dignity and not even realize it.  There are little things we could do every day to better the human race.  Therefore, I thought it would be cool to make a yearly calendar.  Each month could have a different image that illustrates an aspect of dignity and there could also be quotes relating to dignity.  On some months there could be inspirational quotes like "tell someone who is important to you how much they mean to you" or there could be stories about someone who's dignity was violated and then a follow up tip to help prevent that in the future.  For example there could be a story about a homosexual who feels it is offensive when people use the word "gay" and then a reminder at the bottom like "respect others, try to stop using offensive language."  I think a calendar would be unique because there are SOOO many different things that are important in Dignity Awareness that this would allow us to scrapbook it together- some people could contribute paintings, drawings, photographs, and other forms of art and other people could contribute stories, quotes, or reminders of how to promote dignity.  I know a lot of people were talking about creating art and doing an art show and including images of that art in the calendar could expose more people to the art and ideas of dignity.  I chose a calendar because a calendar is something that would hang on a wall and be a daily reminder to people whereas a book or newsletter is something people would look at once and put it on a shelf or magazine rack.  Depending on the actual costs we could sell the calendars and donate the proceeds to a local charity or organization.