In Conclusion

Given that all of us taking this Ethics class have had assignments keeping us busy, work keeping us busy, kids keeping us busy, and various other things keeping us busy, I don’t claim to be much more or less busy than my classmates. However, I truly have not had much of an opportunity to break free and spend time reflecting in my natural environment.

That said, I engage in self-reflection during almost every moment of my spare time. Most of the time I spend my commute to and from work sorting out my thoughts, pondering, wondering, making connections among all the ideas I considered, all the people with whom I spoke, all the words that I read, etc. I am reflective by nature. Further, my blogging project for this class and the personal moral system assignment only reinforced my reflection. Spending an hour or two in my natural environment just to reflect on my ethical beliefs would simply be overkill.

Therefore, my “walkabout” occurred mostly in pieces. Often each period of reflection (which usually occurred while posting a blog entry or driving home from work) would lead to a realization or several mini-realizations. For example, a few weeks ago the director of our office underwent a medical procedure for which she will spend the next 4-6 recovering. (She is doing well so far and is expected to recover completely.) As a result, I have assumed many of her decision-making duties and responsibilities. Although somewhat daunting at times, the experience has been tremendously valuable to me, as it has forced me to really think deeply about how my decisions will impact various constituents. Further, it has forced me to put into practice much of what I have learned about leadership from my master’s program.

Probably the most important thing I have realized is that life is dynamic. It’s one thing to spell out a situation on paper, examine it, and then apply the ethical model that I think is most appropriate. However, that is not realistic. In reality, all the dimensions of a situation are constantly changing, and all of the factors related to the scenario make it too difficult to apply, universally, all the elements of any one of the models discussed in the text.

Winding Down

I must admit that I am greatly relieved that this project is approaching the end of its life. I still believe in the power of reflection as it pertains to learning, so I am not sorry that I chose a project that allowed me to do so much reflecting. However, I do somewhat regret that I chose to reflect in a blog format. I have discovered that I simply have no desire to spend my time firing up the computer, waiting for it to load, logging in to the blog site, and exposing my thoughts to cyberspace.

This semester has been incredibly busy for me--at home, at work, and with school. This is something I anticipated before the semester began. It has been and continues to be a struggle for me to stay afloat, but I have learned so much along the way. And the business has offered a wealth of scenarios upon which I can reflect and relate to my ethical philosophy.

As I ponder over events that have transpired over the last few weeks, the one word that repeatedly comes to mind is "adversity." While that word might imply a sense of pessimism, I should note that one significantly positive outcome from the adversity is that I feel as though I have matured in my role as a professional, a leader, and as a student in this Ethics class.

For example, our office has been operating without the services of two of our full-time staff members. (Normally we have four full-time employees, so we are functioning at 50% capacity.) As the staff member with the most seniority, much of the responsibility of our office is assumed to be on my shoulders. Unfortunately, this has forced me to pass over much of the work for which I would otherwise be responsible in favor of "leading" the office through this period of being short-staffed.

I have had to make decisions that have directly affected certain sets of students, and these effects have not necessarily been positive. I have accepted the fact that our office simply cannot keep up with the work that needs to be done. Some of the services that we normally provide our students and our faculty and staff has been compromised. I have had to deliberately disregard some of my "regular" responsibilities so that I could tend to responsibilities that, arguably, are more important.

The influx of work to be done and choices to be made has materialized almost faster than I can keep up. I have had to make several snap decisions or have spent MUCH less time that I normally would spend making decisions that probably should have demanded more of my time. In many cases, the material we have discussed in our Ethics class has influenced my such decisions.

I believe that each of us, as human beings, reach a point where we become so overwhelmed with to-do lists and mulit-tasking that eventually we become more concerned with getting the job done than getting the job done right. Unfortunately, I have reached that point. There have been recent occasions when I failed to adequately determine how my decision or action would affect the integrity of our office. The integrity is a virtue that I am expected to--indeed, get paid to--uphold.

I also have had to prioritize some of my inquiries based on ethical concerns. For two solid weeks now, with each incoming email or phone call, I have had to decide how prioritize my responses in the most fair and just manner as possible. That hasn't always been easy.

It's getting late, and I'd like to finally call it a day. What I have taken away in my reflection upon my recent adversity is that the prioritization of my tasks have been largely egoist in nature. I have had ordered my to-do list in a way that seems the most convenient (or logical) to me, rather than in a way that can accommodate the most people. I would not operate in this manner under ordinary circumstances, but I could argue that the challenging circumstances warrant this behavior.

This is another reason why i usually hesitate to subscribe to one particular method or theory or system or philosophy. While many of the ethical theories that Thiroux discusses in the text seem logical, it is clear to me that I cannot abide by them universally. I must always consider the context of the scenario when choosing the most appropriate ethcial model to employ.

Furloughs

Everybody has bad days at work. There have been days when I left the office marveling at how green that grass looks on the other side of the fence. I quickly snap myself back to reality and remind myself that I should be grateful that I have a job in the first place.

You probably don't need to look too far before you can identify somebody you know whose job has been affected by the recessed economy. If you are close to anyone who works for the state government, chances are you are close to somebody who is forced to take unpaid days off of work.

Read this link.

This demonstrates utilitarianism, I suppose, in that the idea behind the furloughs is that it should bring the most good to the most people in a bad situation.

So what if our office was facing a serious budget shortfall? What if the only way to compensate for the shortage was to let go one of our employees? How would I choose which one? Would I base it on seniority? Need? Performance? Would I force all of the employees to accept a reduction in salary? Would I ask that some or all of them agree to reduce their work hours?

I can only hope I never am faced with answering those questions. I will continue being grateful that the organization that employs me is not faced with it either.

H1N1 Paranoia

Unless you do not watch the news or read the paper, you are aware of the potential danger of the H1N1 flu virus. Some local hospitals are mandating flu shots for their employees, saying that the shots are necessary to protect their patients.

http://www.whotv.com/news/who-story-flu-vaccine-091009,0,3380116.story

My wife is a nurse at one of the Des Moines hospital's neotatal intensive care unit (NICU) and is required to get vaccinated for the H1N1 virus. I have serious ethical concerns about this.

The vaccination is purported to reduce the likelihood that a person will succumb to the flu. Does it prevent it? No. Could it cause an adverse reaction in those who receive it? Probably not. But is it worth the risk?

Many laws are enacted to protect the safety of individuals. For example, motorists are required to wear their seat belts. But seat-belts, if worn properly, are not harmful to those who wear them. I do believe that individuals are foolish if they do not wear their seat belts, but does the government have the right to make that decision for them? That's debatable.

The H1N1 vaccine, like seat belts, is designed to protect the health or safety of individuals. But the vaccine is MUCH more intrusive than seat belts. People can put seat belts on and take them off. But once that vaccine is injected into one's body, there is no way to remove it!

Do hospitals have the right to force people to inject themselves with a substance that is not proven to prevent a disease and could even cause harmful side effects? They would claim that they imposed the mandate to protect the health of those who are in their employees' care. Should the hospitals also require them to wear masks, avoid places that have frequent human contact (malls, schools, daycares, etc.), and wash their hands every 20 minutes as well?

The hospitals have chosen to protect their patients while potentially exposing their own employees to harmful substances. Thus, they are indentifying one group of people as more important than a different group. I hope that their employees are responsible enough to take their own precautions to avoid catching the flu. Right or wrong, the mandate certainly raises a controversial ethical dilemma.

Catching Up

Oh, it has been a while since I have posted anything. What a crazy few weeks this has been. October and November are my two favorite months of the year, and both seem to have disappeared in the blink of an eye this time around.

My work life has been as busy as it probably ever will be in my life, and things at home also have been demanding my attention more than usual.

At home, our problems seem to be good ones to have. Our house has been on the market since May, and we had two potential buyers walk through within a few days of each other. While this sounds promising, it has been a challenge to coordinate the extra cleaning and child care. I'm really hoping our hard work will pay off in that regard

Things at work, on the other hand, have been nothing short of a nightmare. Our office normally has four full-time employees and a few student employees, but we have been painfully short-staffed since the middle of October. One of our full-timers resigned, another has been out of the office for two weeks and likely will be out for the rest of the semester, and the other was out almost all of last week because of the flu. Even under normal circumstances, this is a busy time of year for us.

I consider myself to have somewhat of a "type A" personality at times, so it's normal for me to worry. Given the extra load this semester, my stress has skyrocketed to levels I have never experienced before. Much of this post probably has a "woe is me" tone to it, but I quickly remind myself that life itself is a challenge. If it always were easy, then life would be boring.

So what ethical concepts can I discuss? Reward comes to mind. Accepting the challenges that are thrown my way and behaving in a manner that I believe to be moral will bring me reward, according to some ethicists. I could have backed down and given the responsibility of cleaning the house to my wife while I spent my time working or studying. In reality, she did probably 75% of the walk-through preparation, but I'd like to think that I contributed at least somewhat significantly. I hope that the work that I did will pay off for both of us by prompting a potential buyer to submit an offer.

And what about at work? I might have sacrificed "home" time more than I would have liked to, but our office is responsible for serving our students' needs. Had I ignored the work that must be done, then I would be letting down all of those students who rely on our support. My hope is that I have been just in balancing my time between the two.

Unfortunately, something that I have overlooked as a result is my studying. I knew when I registered for two classes this semester that it would be a heavy workload for me, so I made sure I got off to a great start. I was very happy with where I was through the first or second week of October, but then things outside of my control began happening, and the workload became even heavier. Something has had to give, and now I must work even harder, on top of everything else, to catch up.

What will I learn from this? As I wade through these extra challenging times, I must not lose sight of the potential rewards that I could reap by behaving ethically. I have worked tremendously hard to perform responsibly at work, and I have pushed myself to keep up with my roles at home. I am free to make my own choices and prioritize my responsibilities however I choose. As long as I continue considering the needs of my family, our students, my coworkers, and everyone else who is affected by my choices, then I believe the payoff will be tremendous.

Teaching and Learning

As I reflect on some of the events that transpired at work today, the one that keeps coming back to me involves some conversations I had with some of our student employees. They are incredibly hard workers, and our office simply could not survive without their efforts.

A recent shake-up in our office has led to my becoming their immediate supervisor, a role that excites me to no end, yet makes me apprehensive because I've never had such a responsibility before. I have grown concerned that our full-time staff (a total of four of us, under normal circumstances) is losing touch with the student staff. This troubles me for several reasons.

First, our full-time staff tends to get caught up in our own work that it is easy for us to forget about the responsibilities that we leave for the student staff. I'm just as guilty of this as everyone else. Second, most of our students work just a few hours per week. Some of the projects we ask them to do are ongoing ventures that require cooperation from all of them. Occasionally it is difficult for one student to determine how to pick up the project from where the last student left off. Last, they are amazingly astute, observant individuals. We rely on them to be our eyes and ears, to pick up on trends and campus buzz and then report it back to us. Communication among everyone is critical!

A complete list of reasons why I admire our students would necessitate another blog post. But one that truly blows me away is how bright these people are. Before I began chatting with them today, I anticipated that I would learn a few things from them. But they surpassed my expectations. All of them were incredibly generous with the way they listened to my ideas and expanded them and then regurgitated the concepts in a millenial-generation context. Their input didn't just leave me enlightened, it left me inspired. What terrific resources they are!

Aside from their clever twists to some of the ideas I pitched to them, their ability to paint me a picture of the positives and negatives of my original thoughts truly fascinated me. I spent a lot of time talking about a variety of communication tools, from things like text messaging, Facebook & Twitter, and email, to more primitive modes like a notepad and scratch paper. Some of the most brilliant ideas that these students gave me involved a pen and paper, not cell phone and keypad.

They also wonderfully gave me a glimpse into the life of a typical college student at Drake. Two that I talked to were first-year male students, and another was a female who plans to graduate in May. I was schooled in the basics of Facebook (for which I do not have an account) and learned that I have a lot more to learn. Another demonstrated her support for being environmentally responsible. I see reminders virtually everywhere to "save trees" and recycle some of my waste, but those messages typically are broadcast by our administration. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to witness one of our own students do a quick analysis of our level of "green."

Another concept that all of the students revealed to me--in a subtle, body-language sort of way, for the most part--is just how overloaded they can become. College is a place where young (and old!) adults can discover themselves, of course, and I have found that most of them are rather heavily involved in student and/or professional organizations outside of the classroom. This is something that I support in almost every circumstance. However, I become concerned when anybody--not just students--spread themselves too thin and find themselves in over their heads.

It seems that at least one of our student-employees has fallen victim to this phenomenon, and I suspect that it's true for the rest of our student staff to varying degrees. Two of the students I spoke with today clearly were sleep-deprived (I don't miss that about my college days!), and the third student has shown signs of struggling to balance his or her activities this semester.

I'm comforted that if an individual is to feel overloaded with responsibilities--class, work, outside projects, etc--then the college days seem like a logical time to experience it. How can I not admire them for involving themselves so enthusiastically? It makes me wish that I could go back to that period of my life and try things that I wouldn't have normally involve myself with. And if all of these things turn out to be too much, then so what? We don't know unless we give it a shot. If we have to take a step back and clear our plate a little, then so be it. At least then we have a better sense of our own comfort level.

From an ethical perspective, the challenges that most college students are forced to deal with are mostly a matter of choice. Some would argue that their need to hold a paying job and study late into the night is a necessary evil that they are predetermined to battle. Some are rewarded with their hard work by graduating with honors or with the sense of pride they feel as they walk across the stage during commencement or the solid job that they secure upon graduation. Others hold on to the things that they have learned about themselves along the way, and I sure hope that they appreciate their own accomplishments. As the wise, wise Miley Cyrus says, "It's not about how fast you get there. It's not about what's waiting on the other side. It's the climb."

And I just quoted Hannah friggin Montana. Now I KNOW that I have had a long day and that my brain has revolted against me and sputtered into oblivion.

Sacrifices

Lately I have spent much of my time reflecting about reward, punishment, justice, freedom, and determinism. I have had several opportunities--some good, some not so good--to apply these concepts to my everyday life.

One way I can clearly illustrate this is my pursuit of my graduate degree. Our graduate program is structured around classes that meet typically on weekends, 2-3 weekends per semester. As a Drake employee, I spend more than 40 hours every week sitting at a desk, constantly working on improving some of the systems, policies, and procedures that we employ. I long for the closing whistle at 4:30pm every Friday just so I can catch my breath.

On those weekends that I am scheduled to attend my graduate classes, the last place I want to be is in a classroom right across campus from my office. It's incredibly difficult to take off my employee hat and don my student hat after all the effort of a full work week.

Motivating myself to participate in such classes is a constant struggle. On my short walk across campus, I can't help but remind myself of all the things I'm having to give up to earn my degree. I could spend my evenings doing things that I should or want to be doing.

Soon I remember that earning a master's degree SHOULD be a challenge that requires me to make sacrifices. When I walk across that stage, do I want to look back at my experience as a walk in the park or a long battle? And Drake could not make it any easier to afford the degree, as it pays 100% of my tuition. I would be a fool not to take advantage of something like that.

This swirling of emotions reminds me of ethical concepts like reward, justice, freedom, and determinism.

I made a choice to pursue a master's degree; it was not caused by something out of my control.

I (hopefully) will be rewarded for my efforts when my journey is complete. All the sacrifices I make along the way give the reward meaning. After all, what sort of accomplishment would it be if Drake were to simply give away a master's degree to anybody who raised his or her hand?

Further, I have found a certain amount of justice in this as well. Drake gives all its employees an equal opportunity to enroll in classes without being responsible for the tuition. It is up to the employees to take advantage of it.

Those who consciously decide to take advantage of the opportunity must make sacrifices but are rewarded in the end.

Ethical concepts aside, what I have learned most is that it isn't the diploma that is meaningful to me. It's what I have learned in my pursuit of it.

Old Times

At age 14, I was at the end of my childhood, oblivious to my imminent transition to manhood. That might sound silly and a bit dramatic, I know. But the events that transpired during that part of my life have had profound effects that, in many ways, have shaped me into the man I am today.

Two very significant events occurred at that time. My maternal grandfather lost his battle with cancer, roughly one year after my parents got divorced. The divorce was simply a culmination of awkwardness, tension, and instability in the family. To a large degree, I was actually relieved when Mom and Dad decided to part ways.

I am eternally grateful that my parents remain civil--even friendly, most of the time--with each other to this day. All things considered, things worked out rather well. My grandpa died in the wake of the divorce, leaving me as the default support pillar for my mom. It was a heavy responsibility for a 14-year-old.

My wife would say that I'm just a mama's boy. Well, sure. She's probably right. But in my defense, the sacrifices that my mom made to raise her two children on her own commands my deepest gratitude.

The ethical dilemmas that stemmed (and still stem) from the fallout of the divorce are endless. My mother's marriage to my father, well, it is what it is. Mom always quickly reminded me that although Dad was not the perfect husband, his commitment as a father to me and my sister were never in doubt. I've always admired my mom for being able to admit that despite the swirling emotions that she must have been enduring.

Many good things emerged as a result of the divorce. It formed an incredibly tight bond between me, my mom, and my sister, who was about 18 years old and on her own in college. The three of us would get together almost every weekend during the fall to watch Green Bay Packers games. When the weather got cold, we would start a fire in the living room, flip on the game, and eat chili while watching Brett Favre throw four touchdown passes (and three interceptions...).

The three of us took a few vacations together, often back to Mom's original stomping grounds in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to visit some extended family. Southern Wisconsin was like a refuge for me, and probably for Mom & Kelly as well. Most of the summer trips to Cheeseland involved tailgating and watching the Brewers at old County Stadium.

Kelly, for reasons unknown, developed an affinity for the Atlanta Braves, particularly one of their catchers. After one of our summer trips to Milwaukee, the three of us dropped down to Chicago to catch a Braves-Cubs match-up. Kelly talked for weeks before the trip about how she planned to get her stud ball player's autograph. She had waited in excitement for months for this very moment.

Alas, Kelly and I made our way down to the front row of the stadium, as close as we could get to her guy, and she froze like a statue--a deer in headlights--virtually comatose as she stood. I remember rolling my eyes and reaching out toward the player with a marker and some scratch paper for him to sign. He did, and Kelly and I turned around, scurried up the aisle to meet my mom, and then continued to enjoy the rest of the vacation.

Although the tone of this vacation was overwhelmingly familial, it was legendary nonetheless. The three of us experienced subsequent adventures in the city that are funny probably only to us. Kelly and I were young adults, probably well past that age when it stopped being "cool" to go on vacation with parents, but I think both of us look back on the trip very fondly.

The trip likely was even more meaningful to our mom. Always going to the extreme to provide for us as best as she possibly could, she made unexpected sacrifices for us even in the midst of that trip. Financially speaking, I'm sure we returned home having spent far more money than she had anticipated.

Was it in her best interest to break her own budget for the sake of making the trip more enjoyable to her kids? Did we spend time visiting the sights that she wanted us to explore? Did she enjoy battling the heavy traffic in an urban environment that was generally outside of her comfort zone? Did she decide to give my sister and I the freedom to dictate the events on that trip because we were old enough to make such decisions? Did she gain any satisfaction from that?

As sad as it might sound to somebody who isn't my mom or sister, I still think about that vacation occasionally. Aside from the pure fun at the ball game, the inspiration at the museums, and the adventures of getting from Point A to Point B, it strengthened the ties among me, my mom, and my sister. The older I get, the more I recognize and appreciate that.

That was sometime around 1995--half of a lifetime ago, for me. Fourteen years later, my mother sprung a surprise on me and my sister that automatically qualified her as Mother of the Year.

During our visit at Mom's house last weekend, Mom sat us down in her living room and asked us to read a letter that she wrote. In three pages, Mom reminisced about that legendary vacation from 1995. Her kids have grown up and have started families of their own. These days, the time that Mom, Kelly, and I spend together usually involves church and the grandkids. But Mom made it clear in her letter that she wants to ressurect that old-school, three-amigo kind of relationship that we enjoyed several years ago.

It isn't practical for Mom, Kelly, and I to get together--just the three of us--and catch a Packers game on TV, now that Kelly's kids are involved in extracurricular activities and that I have a seven-month-old daughter who loves to crawl around and explore. But after having read the letter Mom wrote to us, it was clear that she had something up her sleeve.

I asked her point-blank and somewhat facetiously, "Are you dying?" After a chuckle, she handed me an envelope. Inside were three tickets to the Packers-Vikings game at Lambeau Field on 11/1--tickets that are so expensive that Mom probably has tucked away half of all her paychecks she has collected since 1995 just to afford them.

So as I let this all sink in over the weekend and stared at my computer searching for a topic to blog about, it only seemed fitting that I examine the ethics of a mother and her two grown kids and a story about coming full-circle. Kelly's husband agreed to delay a vacation of his own just so my sister could participate in this trip. It just happens that 11/1 is one weekend in which I do not have any classes scheduled. It's almost as though this wild idea of my mom's couldn't be any more meant-to-be.

Further, today is my late grandpa's birthday.

Being the sentimental guy that I am--something that often drives my wife nuts--I can't help but recognize an element of miraculous-ness in this upcoming adventure with Mom and Kelly. Would theological ethicists agree that some higher-power is pulling some sort of strings, here? Was it wrong for my mother to purchase these incredibly expensive tickets--for the purpose of satisfying an urge to relive our glory days for just one weekend--without consulting her kids?

I don't know, and I don't care. There are very few places I would rather be just for those moments at Lambeau on November 1st.

I have longed to reflect on a concern that I have had for some time now. The concern comes from today's college students, their parents, their attitudes, and the relationships among all three.

In general, the parents of these students have the best of intentions but often hover too closely (in my opinion) to their students' affairs. Therefore, they have earned the moniker "helicopter parents."

In their defense, they are accustomed to having full access to their children's high-school academic records. When their children turn 18, that right shifts to the students themselves. Suddenly the parents find themselves having to jump through hoops before being allowed access to their students' affairs.

Further, if the parents are the ones forking over thousands of dollars--hundreds of thousands of dollars, even--to pay for that highly-coveted college education for their students, shouldn't they have a right to view such things?

Maybe the baby-boomer parents of these students are simply going to extremes to give their own children things the best of everything. The parents themselves are children of a generation that lived through the great depression, after all. Many did not enjoy certain luxuries that their conservative parents could not afford. As a result, they overcompensate for their own children.

But when does it go too far? I am alarmed at the observations I have made that indicate a severely apathetic set of students these days. In general, this group of students coasts through their college career, allowing their parents to pull all the strings and their advisors make all their decisions for them.

The relationship that students have with their parents and their academic advisors really is their own business. I'm expressing how much it saddens me when today's students don't stand up for themselves and refuse to take ownership of the paths they travel.

"My advisor told me not to take any math classes with Instructor XYZ because his teaching style is not right for me." This sort of thing appalls me. Determining what kind of teaching style is best for a student should rest with only one person, and it isn't the advisor.

"My fraternity brothers told me that I should take calculus at a community college rather than my own school because it's a lot easier there." It's a shame that some students would automatically subscribe to this philosophy. What ever happened to taking on a challenge?

Maybe I'm just naive. When I was an undergraduate, I made my decisions on my own and dealt with whatever consequences became of them. I visited my academic advisor only because I was required to, not because I expected her to tell me exactly which classes to take in the next semester. I mapped out backup plans and backups to backup plans. I didn't roll over and comply with every rule and regulation that was thrown at me, but rather challenged the purpose behind such mandates.

College is supposed to be the time when young adults mature and stop letting mommy and daddy hold their hands. At the pace we are going, I anticipate having to not only interview a candidate for a job but also the candidate's overbearing mother or father.

From an ethical perspective, my thought is this: Are the parents behaving unethically by having such a tight grip on their children? Are they acting in a manner that is "bad" or "wrong"? Do their actions reflect the best interests of their children, or only what their perceptions of those interests should be?

At the risk of sounding self-righteous, what I hope to learn fom this is to merely inform my own children and let them make their decisions for themselves.

What's this about?

Scenario: You are raising a beautiful, one-year-old daughter. You discover that due to a mix-up at the hospital, she is not biologically yours. She is the biological daughter of a different couple, who has been raising your biological son. What would you do?

Scenario: You are the newly-hired coach of your town's basketball team. The father of one of your players is a basketball expert, but also well-known as an alcoholic. His actions repeatedly have embarrassed his son, and their relationship clearly is strained. You recognize that aside from his alcohol addiction, the father's intentions are well-meaning. He approaches you and asks you to hire him as an assistant coach. Not only would it add another basketball mind on your bench, it also could provide the father an opportunity to straighten himself out and mend the relationship with his son. Would you hire him?

Scenario: You work as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the local hospital. As the flu season approaches, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) predicts a flu pandemic. The hospital administration responds by forcing you to get a flu shot. The strain of the flu is relatively unknown, and the vaccine that is being developed is brand new and unproven. You are concerned about potential side effects of the vaccine because it could put you and your family at risk. Do you comply with the hospital's mandate, or do you refuse because of your concern?

None of these scenarios leads to a right or wrong answer, but it is fun to explore them and other ethical dilemmas. I intend to use this blog to dissect scenarios (whether completely hypothetical, somewhat fictionalized, or completely true). I chose a blog format for several reasons:

• Foremost, I am doing this as an assignment for a graduate class that I am taking this semester
  
• Ease/convenience: I have found that writing (or typing, in this case) my thoughts, my notes, my ideas, etc., is a very effective way for me to absorb material. Rather than writing these words with pen and paper, it's just much easier to type them
• A blog, at least in concept, gives other people a chance to give feedback
• Because I work with college students who tend to communicate electronically MUCH more frequently than I do, a blog gives me an opportunity to explore such an arena a little more intimately
• To bore you...are you still reading this?
  

My goal is to post on this blog at least twice per week for the fall 2009 semester. I suspect that most of my topics will be inspired by real-life scenarios that I experience at work. (I will protect the identites of those involved, of course.) I also expect some of my own experiences at home will offer plenty of topics.

I hope to explore topics like those above through the lenses of the ethical theories that we study in our class. My hope is that by the end of this project, I will have a better idea of my own ethical perspectives. Secondary, I hope to become more familiar with trendy electronic communication tools, like blogs.