Post No. 132 - Ethics

In today's online edition of "The Age" was a story about a car accident where a four year old boy was injured. The article points out that children under seven can sit in the front seat of cars if all available back seats are occupied by children under seven, but it SEEMS that, in such circumstances, all the children must still be wearing approved booster seats/child restraints. Furthermore, the article states that police are not prepared to speculate about the accident as they are still investigating.

I read this story just a few minutes after reflecting on some letter writing I did when Melbourne's Crown Casino was being contemplated. One of my concerns at that time was the one sidedness of the legislation being proposed: a person could potentially lose everything they had, or enough to find themselves in financial trouble, but the Casino could tell people to leave if they were winning too much money!

That is one-sided, and unfair. The Casino has, in my opinion, a far greater financial capacity to withstand losses than the vast majority of individuals who go there, and this one-sidedness was morally repugnant.

At the time, the replies I had were to the effect that the jobs of people working at the Casino were more important than the potential for people to put their families out on the street. I consider that subsequent work to address problem gambling has verified that I was right to raise the concerns, and it was a shame that I and others weren't listened to.

I've become a lot more hard-line on these sorts of issues now, particularly with more recent concerns about jobs that are damagibng the environment. So, now, I would probably respond to the issue about jobs along the lines of those people need to find work that is ethical.

You've probably noticed that I'm not a fan of gambling? Small flutters can be entertaining for many people - in fact, I've put a few dollars through pokies myself.

I've also had an ex- put her whole pay cheque through the pokies before she had even got home ... and someone else I knew lost her home from a gambling addiction.

And then there is ethical behaviour around looking after children. I fully support the recent Victorian Government's legislation on child restraints [1] and better health environments for children in cars (i.e. no smoking), and, sad to say, I've often found it is simple laziness that leads many people to not consider getting appropriate booster seats or restriants. Less commonly, financial issues may be issues, and that is most likely a problem for larger families.

Now, if someone has multiple births through natural conception, that is one matter; choosing deliberately to have more than two children is environmentally questionable in my view, and, if it also includes a failure to plan for things like an appropriate car/child seats etc, then it becomes, in my opniion, morally reprehensible.

I have no idea whether the children in the car mentioned in today's article were the woman's or others that she had agreed (or been coperced into agreeing) to transport, or whether the seats were appropriate, but it certainly brought to mind a few thoughts on ethics based on people I used to know.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:

1. See here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: ethics, family, personal responsibility, laziness, finances,

First published: Friday 16th July, 2010

Last edited: Friday 16th July, 2010