Run Away!

Thank God this is the last ethics blog for this semester! Haha. Today I would like to share about child running away from house and we will discuss whether it is ethical or not. I believe most of the child will think to run away from house especially in teenage stage. Teenagers are not able to accept scold by their parents, punishment from parents (rotan on hands during my time), nagging and control from parents all the time.  

Why I choose this topic and how it is relate to ethics? I would like to share my perspective and if anything that I write wrongly, do comment and correct me. =)

In my childhood, I ever planned to run away from home when I am 9 years old. That time, my siblings and me lived with my aunty due to my parents went to Australia to work. When we stayed at my aunty house, that time we were abused by her. For examples, she will suddenly cane my brother with rotan while he is sleeping! Not only that, if we have wrong spelling in spelling test, she will knocked our head  with hard object for few times! There are more but let me go into the topic. Can you imagine at 9 years old of me planned to run away from home and I had a proper plan how to run! I discussed with my primary classmate and she willing to help me to run away, and help me plan together. The plan was so detailed like what time, go her house by bicycle, how many minutes to reach her house and so on. To cut the story short, at the end, my running away plan was failed due to my aunty knows about it.

Do we as child have right to run away from house? Is that action ethical? I have both answers. I feel it is ethical when the child is under some dangerous or inappropriate situation such as uncle or dad tries to disturb the girl, abuse, unfair treatment for step daughter or son and so on. I also agree with it is not unethical when it comes to the child himself or herself run away from home because he or she wants to try new things, explore the world and influenced by peer. It is a selfish act and makes parents worry.

According to Child Find of America, children that run away from home:

42% have family problems

14% because of peer pressure

5% because of drug or alcohol abuse

4% because of physical abuse

Here is a guide to some of the reasons why children run away from home:

v Abuse

This is probably the number one reason why children run away from home. Physical or mental abuse does horrible damage to a child. Some children get to a point that they say "Enough" and that is when they run away from it. These children will see the risk of running away as being the better alternative to staying. These are also the children that will be the hardest to find. They run away because they are hurting physically and mentally. They are running as far away from home as they can possibly get in hopes of leaving the pain behind.

v Fear

If a child has done something wrong and fears the outcome when his/her parents find out about it, he or she may run away. It depends on the punishment that a parent will usually give for minor infractions. If a child knows that his or her parents will beat him or her for getting a bad grade, what in the world will the parents do if he/she was caught drinking alcohol at a friend’s party? Imaginations can run wild in a child who fears his or her parents.

v Drug Use

When a child has gotten caught up in drug use, you never know what may happen. People do things they wouldn't normally do when they are under the influence. If your child is involved in drug use, there is a very good likelihood that he/she will run away from home in order to pursue it further. This may sound odd, but it is true. This is especially possible when the child has been caught with drugs by his/her parents. If there is a threat that he/she will have to give up the drugs, he/she may run away from home. When you are highly addicted to certain drugs, you will do anything to obtain them. This means you will do anything to do them. Leaving home isn't out of the question.

Most of the problem of child running from home because of family. Family is very important to give right teaching since born. A lot of children and teenagers have attitude problem because of the family background. Some family is single parent, some id divorced parents, and some parents always quarrel in front of their child, no proper family teaching and a lot.

Here are some ways to prevent child that running away:

v Know When To Teach And When To Praise

As much as possible, praise your child when he does something positive. For example, praise your child when he or she do some house chores. If they do something wrong, for example throw tissue everywhere, tell and teach them what is the appropriate way and where the tissue should belongs to.

v Create an Atmosphere of Acceptance

Unconditional love is an idea that is used a lot in parenting, but different people mean different things by it.  It’s important for parents to have that kind of atmosphere in their house and to reinforce it with their kids. It's also good for parents to say, “It's okay to make mistakes around here.” Make it clear to your child that “the way we handle mistakes in our home is by facing up to them and dealing with them.”

v Check in with Your Child

All parents should have a system where they check in with their kids frequently. Just stop and ask, “How's it going? Anything you want help with?” You can say this two or three times in one day; go by their room and knock on the door. That way you're constantly giving your child hypodermic interest and affection. You’re saying, “I'm interested in you, I care.” This is a skill that parents can build; it doesn't always come naturally. Most of the parents who have worked all day come home and they're tired but you can train yourself to do that so that you child would know you are interested and you care about them. You never lose when you show that to a child.

There are other reasons that children run away from home. These are just a few of the most common ones. It is important that child feel as though he or she can come to parents with any problem without fear. That doesn't mean that parents should never punish the child for doing the wrong thing. It means being there for the child no matter what.

Children need to know that his or her parents love him or her. If a child feels that parents love is conditional, parents may lose him or her to the streets. Parenting is a tough job. It takes a great amount of skills to do it well. Preventing child from running away from home is as easy as putting unconditional love at the top of priority list.

Business Mind vs Ethics Mind

Business mind means running a successful business or organization requires taking risks, lots of hard work and the right set of tools.

The ethical mind requires more abstract and reflective thinking about one's behavior. No matter what type of work a person undertakes, she or he can stand back and ask what she or he needs to do for her or his work to be excellent in quality and ethical in conduct, and then follow through with those responsibilities.

Let me share my story:

On 24^th June 2013, the haze is Kuala Lumpur getting worse. Everyone needs masks in KL but mostly out of stocks. So on that day, my friend and I went to Times Square lower ground to withdraw money. After withdraw money, we went to Guardian to checked whether got mask to sell or not. There was no stock in Guardian. Then we move on to Caring Pharmacy, when we reached the entrance, there was new stocks of mask. The stocks contain around 60 boxes of masks which each box got 50 pieces masks. When I asked the cashier, she said one box costs RM40. I thought it was a normal price as it was my first time bought masks and I bought it. What make me shocked was, within 20 minutes, the whole stocks gone. The demand was high.

On the same day, when I’m on the way to back home, I saw got a girl selling masks. I’m curious about it and I went near to her. I asked her the price of one piece of mask. She answered me it was RM1.50 per piece. More expensive than what I bought! I saw she got three boxes to sell and I feel she is very clever to sell masks in such a high demand season. She knows people need masks and she knows from there, she can make profit.

The next day, 25^th June 2013, I went to Caring Pharmacy again. I saw a lot of new stocks and I went to the cashier counter and asked the price of the masks per box. Surprisingly, it just costs RM30 per box! The pharmacy lowers the costs as they know the demand getting lower due to haze getting lesser and many people had mask already. I feel so regret to buy the mask so early but from there, I learn more about demand and price.

So, the question is, did the pharmacy or the girl that sells mask in a right way to do so? For them, they can earn a lot profit as the demand is high. But for me as I discover the whole thing, I feel they have business mind but not an ethical mind. Are they wrong? I cannot say they are wrong because it is the reality that they need to maximize the profit.

For my personally, I feel people can have both sides. A person can be a business and ethical mind. For example, that girl can sell the mask by RM1.00 rather than RM1.50. If her intention is correct as she want to help people, then she is having both sides.

To be honestly, if I never learn about Business Ethics in BERJAYA UCH, I will never know that ethics can be so broad and make me to see things more clear. So, I’m quite happy to learn. Haha.

Thank You!

The Ethics of Abortion

An abortion is when a pregnancy is terminated and a fetus is eliminated from the uterus.

According to WHO, every year in the world an estimated 40-50 million women faced with an unplanned pregnancy decide to have an abortion. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.

Why women or girl choose to abort their own child? Sometimes is unplanned pregnancy, sometimes is being raped, and sometimes is because the girl is under age.  Under age means a citizen that is below 18 years old according to Malaysia’s law.

Here I would like to talk about abortion if a girl was being raped. If you are the family members or her friends, will you encourage her to abort the child?

People don't know how to handle a person who is in that much pain. There is no quick fix. Many people think women are responsible for contributing to the rape itself. Then the rape victims feel self-blame and guilt. And even then a rape victim’s family members or close friends may reinforce negative feelings or words towards the victim.

According to David Reardon, for those victims who chose childbirth over abortion it can be a triumph. It can state that the victim is not going to let rape destroy her life. When the need of pregnant victims is closely examined, it can be shown that abortion is not the answer and is in fact only worsening the problem.

As a normal human with humanity, we should not ask a person to abort her child because it is unethical. I will explain why it is unethical.

1)      Right to Life

Fetus has the right to life because it is a 'potential human being'. From the day 22, the heartbeat of fetus is formed. Since there is the heartbeat, there is the life. Whether the baby is able to come to the world or not, it is not us to decide but God who gives life. I believe in all religions, got one (1) similarities which is baby is given from God and we shall not kill life.

2)      Abortion Cannot Help the Victim 

Abortion cannot help the victim because the problem is not because of the pregnancy, but it is because of the psychological aspect. The victim will think why she still carrying a baby that is not belongs to her and her loved one. Victim will feel as long as she carrying the baby, she can’t forget the traumatic incident that happened on her. Abortion is not the way to end the story, but it is the starting of another chapter of despair. After abortion, many victims began thinking there was something wrong with them and began to doubt themselves in situations that they would normally be sure of themselves.

3)      Help Others

There are so many girls was being raped every year. For those can overcome the trauma, she can help many unfortunate girl around the world to stand up and live meaningfully. This is because she understands how other victims feel.

There are few solutions I would like to suggest to prevent rape cases.

1.      Family and Friends

A supportive family and friends are very important to victim. Rather than find faults or blames in her, encouragement is very important. Encouragement will let the victim know that she is not alone to face the problem. When she knows many people are encouraging her, she will get comforted and continue to build up her life and continue to live. There are many cases that victim commit suicide because there is no support from family and friends.

2.      Society

Society should be aware that rape cases are getting more and more. Society needs to create a community to help the weakness and prevent such cases continue to happen. For example, community can teaches some protection skills to prevent criminal to kidnap and rape.  In Malaysia, there are a lot of organizations helping victims such as Women’s Aid Organization (WAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and Malaysian Family Physicians.

3.      Government

Government need to enforce the law and protects victim. Malaysia needs to increase law enforcement towards sexual crime. Under Malaysian law, a man who is said to commit rape shall be punished for a term which may extend to 20 years, and shall also be liable to whipping, if he has sexual intercourse with a woman against her will and without her consent. This law should always remind the citizens and the Government should apply more education about the consequences of rape.

In conclusion, when I preparing for this blog, I’m in a contradict position. If this happen to me, I also will don’t know how to choose. In logically, we should not abort the baby. In mentally and emotionally, the baby should not come to this world. So, here I would like to ask all girls to be careful everywhere you go and please inform someone if go out from the house.

Take care!

Here is a quote from Megan Clancy:

There are women who are raped and become pregnant; the problem is that they were raped, not that they are pregnant.

There are women who are starving who become pregnant; the problem is that they are starving, not that they are pregnant.

There are women in abusive relationships who become pregnant; the problem is that they are in abusive relationships, not that they are pregnant.

The Right to Die? – Euthanasia

In this world, most of the people face problems more than happiness. One of the problems is how people able to face disease or death. Euthanasia, known as assisted suicide or term as mercy killing. "Euthanasia" comes from the Greek word eu meaning "good", and the Greek word thanatos meaning "death". Literally Euthanasia means good death English medical word, 2010). Euthanasia in Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland and Colombia are legal.

There are two main classifications of Euthanasia:

Voluntary Euthanasia - this is Euthanasia conducted with consent. It is means the patient is aware of what he or she doing and clear of his or her decision.

Involuntary Euthanasia - Euthanasia is conducted without consent. The decision is made by another person because the patient is incapable to doing so himself or herself.

The issue of Euthanasia is, should this system apply in this world? In this world, there are a lot of moral dilemmas of Euthanasia such as:-

Ø  Is it ever right to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is undergoing severe pain and suffering?

Ø  Is there a moral difference between killing someone and letting them die?

There are few points that why Euthanasia should or should not apply in this world.

Should

1)      Cost

Most of the patients that would like to end their life because don’t want to burden their family. Take care of a patient costs a lot such as medical fee; hire a maid to look after the patient, require a lot of time to take care patient and will affects the family members in mentally and physically.

2)      To Reduce The Suffering of Patient

Many cancer patients would not want to go through a lot of suffering such as loss weight, loss hair, vomit, immune dysfunction and body pain. Patients willing to die as the pain cannot torture them any more, even though family members may disagree.

3)      Freewill

Euthanasia shows basic human right and freedom for every individual to determine their lives.

4)      Dignity

Every individual should be given the ability to die with dignity.

Should Not

1)      People Might Take It For Granted

Human nowadays are fragile and not able to face difficulties of life in a positive way. They choose to escape from problems rather than solve the problems. More people seeking assisted suicides in the country do not suffer from any terminal disease (Thomsson, 2011).

2)      Moral Religious Argument

Religious people believe that life is given by God, and only God should decide when to end it.

3)      The legal Position

If Euthanasia was made legal, the laws regulating it would be abused, and people would be killed who didn't really want to die.

In Ethics class, we learnt about Oxymoron. It is the combination of two contradictory terms. Same goes to Euthanasia, people will think that is a murder while some people will think it is the best way to stop the pain and die peacefully.

As I mentioned above, there are two type of Euthanasia which are voluntary and involuntary. In Voluntary Euthanasia, for my opinion, every decision is under one’s willingness. If the patient is undergo extreme suffering from sickness, I also will suggest Euthanasia to take place even it is a cruel thing to do. But this must get the permission from the patient. If the patient has the possibility to get recover, I will not encourage patient undergo Euthanasia. To get a sickness to recover, it requires a lot of time, money and energy. But as long as there is a hope, we should not give up our lives. There are so many things in the world we are not yet try, discover and experience them.

For Involuntary Euthanasia, it is conducted without consent. For example, a patient that in coma and cannot make decision for himself or herself. So for this, usually family members are the one who make the decision. It this ethical? The patient willing to die in that way? Or how about patient that without family members? Government or hospital need to make a right decision as it costs a human life.

So, in conclusion, I personally will not encourage Euthanasia to takes place in human lives. Life is a treasure that we only have once for the entire life. So, stay healthy and be positive always no matter what circumstances come to our lives.

Thank You!

Lying in the Workplace

What is ethics? We all know that everyone has their own perception about ethics.

Some people might say:

"Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong."

"Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs."

"Being ethical is doing what the law requires."

"Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts."

According to BCC, ethics doesn't always show the right answer to moral problems. Indeed more and more people think that for many ethical issues there isn't a single right answer. Ethics just like a set of principles that can be applied to particular cases to give those involved some clear choices. Some philosophers go further and say that all ethics can do is eliminate confusion and clarify the issues. After that it's up to each individual to come to their own conclusions.

Ethics can be in many types. Supernaturalism makes ethics inseparable from religion. It teaches that the only source of moral rules is God. So, something is good because God says it is, and the way to lead a good life is to do what God wants. Another type of ethics is consequentialism. This is the ethical theory that most non-religious people think they use every day. It bases morality on the consequences of human actions and not on the actions themselves. There also an ethics called situation ethics. Situation ethics rejects prescriptive rules and argues that individual ethical decisions should be made according to the unique situation. Rather than following rules the decision maker should follow a desire to seek the best for the people involved. There are no moral rules or rights because each case is unique and deserves a unique solution.

For my personally, I never think that ethics can be so deep to think until I taking Contemporary Ethics and Corporate Citizenship in BERJAYA UCH. Before I study ethics, I will use my religious beliefs to define my ethical behavior. When I studying this subject, I found it is more than that. We need to think a lot of areas. For example, I’m a Christian and according to my religious beliefs, I can’t lie at all. No matter whether it is a white lie or not, I still can’t lie. I must tell the truth. Then many people would say that I’m stupid or how can I survive in future when I come to work as the world is full of unfairness and so on.

Tell lies never be easy unless used to it. Telling the truth is not always easy. It can be uncomfortable and scary when it comes to certain situations at work. In fact, lying on the job is pretty common these days. Why people would like to tell lies in the workplace? They’ll think how if I say the truth and get fired without giving me second chance? Or even I say the truth but no one believes in me? Or do colleagues still accept who I am after I revealed the truth? People lie for many reasons. They lie because they’re trying to please customers or because they don’t want to get punished for making a mistake. They lie because they’re ashamed, or because they’re trying to manipulate a situation to their favor.

I work as a part-timer in Purple Cane Company. Purple Cane is a company selling all sorts of Chinese tea from Yunnan, China. Purple Cane located at Shaw Parade which is behind Berjaya Times Square. There are two Purple Cane shops in Shaw Parade, one located at Ground Floor, and another one located at First Floor. One day, the officer of ground floor asks me to take some expensive green tea sample from 1^st floor. I asked the officer, how if the officer of 1^st floor asks me why I need to take the sample? The officer told me to say it is for customer tea tasting. Actually the sample is us, the staffs to drink the tea. I struggling that time because I don’t want to tell lie due to my religious belief and if I tell the truth, I will get scold by the officer and maybe get fired. When I went up to the 1^st floor and took the sample, the officer of 1^st floor asked why I took the expensive green tea sample. She also asked me whether it is for staffs to drink or customer to taste. I didn’t answer the question and she just let me to take the sample. I’m not sure whether I telling lie or not but at that moment, I feel very guilty. As like what I mentioned, I’m a religious person, even human may not know but God knows what I’m doing.

From this experience, I really need to think what I need to do for my future career. Will I tell lie because I need to keep my job or I just tell the truth and has the possibility to get fired. I believe if I do my best in career, with honesty and integrity, I can build my reputation in the eyes of people.

“Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.” ― Thomas Jefferson

“Honesty and integrity are absolutely essential for success in life - all areas of life. The really good news is that anyone can develop both honesty and integrity.” ― Zig Ziglar