A conversation with CC_value

I was punched by this forwarded article. I left it in my Inbox for almost a month until I am calm enough to think about it and to talk about it. I know I can delete one thing and release after I truly face it.

CC is a knowledgeable and passionate person that I appreciate a lot. I really want to hear her insights, so I emailed her this article and asked for her opinions. The article was copied and pasted again on this page. I also posted some article collections regarding this story that happened in Feburary for references. Our ongoing conversation are:

TSL: (Monday, March 28,2005 9:04 am)
        Hi Chen-chen,
        Someone forwarded this to me, and I would very much like to
        discuss with you and listern to your thoughts.... before I delete it.
(see "轉貼" in comments)

CC: (Monday, March 28, 2005 12:22 pm)
i was thrown off by this ariticle. my mouth was wide open when i was reading it because i could not believe what i was reading. i cannot see what this doctor is seeing, patients as objects and work as a thing you do to make money to support the family. he based on these two premises and tried to justify the unethical practice of ren-ai hospital and its doctors. he actually put himself down to the level as a tool for fixing people's body. if he does not have a heart, he would not even do that fixing job well because he did not think he could do much for saving people's life. that actually puts patients in his care in danger because of his indifference. human beings are not tools or machines. we have the ability to decide what we want to achieve. we are human beings and we seek happiness maybe from the amount of money we make. but we definitely need more than that. this doctor tried to shake off the responsiblity that he promised to take before he decided to become a doctor even though he did not say those words at the commencement. i do not understand why he even dared to write such an irresponsible thing!
talk to you later and let me know what you think.

TSL: (Monday, March 28, 2005 11:09 pm)
Hi Chen-chen,
The perspective from this article is obviously different from most published articles we would read, and that’s why I think it is interesting to discuss it. I was surprised by this author’s honesty. As the title I made for this email (the truth?), I am thinking how much this author revealed the true feelings or thoughts of those “smart” and “high educated” people!?

It is sad, but really, this society is sick.

This author (and his classmates, as he says in the article) doesn’t like, and worse, doesn’t even respect his/her job at all. Nothing counts in his/her life but money. S/he cannot cherish and enjoy her/his life, nor appreciate others’. And worse, s/he also doesn’t want to take any responsibility. Everybody’s fault but his/hers! Those kind of behaviors and ontology have become a pattern, I saw especially on “smart” and “high educated” people!

It is dangerous.

And yet, it is true that many journalists lack of the body of profession they suppose to have, so do many medical doctors, educators, social workers, politicians, and others. The profession here, I mean, includes not only the phases of skills and information that can be quantified by examinations, certifications, or degrees; but also the phases of enthusiasm and attitudes toward the jobs that are taken on. The profession is the mix of “knowledge” and “wisdom”.

How can we earn knowledge and wisdom? And how can we lead our students to earn theirs?

(ps. I am creating a Blog. Do you mind I copy our conversation onto my page?)

CC: (March 29, 2005)
not at all. go right ahead and share.

i still think we can choose what to do. we can use the sick society (i doubt it is this sick as we thought, anyway) as an excuse or we can decide to act on our own free will. i honestly think not everyone thinks like him and i am disgusted to read this article because i know for sure this particular doctor put up an "i am telling the truth" mask to hide his own conscience. he even dragged his colleagues into this to lessen his sense of guilt or whatever hw is uncomfortable with. well this is my guess. talk to you soon.

TSL: (March 31, 2005)
I think the sickness is an excuse. It is a way to share the responsibilities to the society—a group of unknown people. This results in that no one is going to take any responsibility. Safe.

I know there are many doctors who contribute their lives and love to their patients, and I hope this particular author is only one who has that “particular” value and belief. But CC, I doubt how confidence I have now to say that “s/he must be the only one (or one of the few) in the society”. Is there any way I can increase my confidence about this? Yes, people have their own values and beliefs that different from one another. However, should someone take different degrees of responsibilities because the society gives certain groups of people various degrees of power and respects? The moral thing is really hard to measure, if we have to quantify it; but it is so important. And yes, I believe we can do something—with our knowledge, passionateness, and spirituality—more or less.

CC: (March 31, 2005)

morality aside, i think people need to have work ethics. i will study moreabout the differences between morality and ethics. at this moment, i thinkthose high-pay job people are trusted by people who pay money to get qualityservices should at least do enough to justify the money they get. again, ithas to do with distribution of resources. let's focus on the doctor'sgoal - making money. he needs to provide medical services that are worth ofhis patients' money. if not, he made himself a cheater, cheating monoy outof his patients by claiming he can do his job well. a doctor with hismentality would be even become a good tool. he will be too lazy to think ofimproving his accuracy as a machine. i don't care if he took the oath tosave people in need or if he needs to be moral, what's important is whetherhe, as a tool, has done a tool's work.let's talk about moral responsibility. have you read about a professorcriticising the people who worked at the world trade center as technocrats?to turn the world's economy around, all they have to do is to move theirlittle fingers and hit some keys on their computer keyboards. they should betaking more responsibility for what's happening in the world than the smallfarmers in africa. we cannot measure responsibility but we can compareourselves with other people and see what we can do as a person with what wehave. because we know we can make a difference, however small it is, inpeople's life. it's actually for ourselves. would you feel guilty when youknow you have more than others? again, it's relative and it's all in yourmind. it can be trained by helping children understand people need to betreated fairly and empathy is a great thing you can instill in yourchildren. we used to depend on school indoctrination for morality and todayschools have become a place where teachers transmit practical knowledge tothe students and forget they themselves are the students' role models. well,enough for today. talk to you later.

Bruno Munari

T S Lin

"Every facet of the design process has to maintain a relationship with the seneses. When you confront an object, you have got to touch it, smell it, listen to it." -- Bruno Munari