America: The Land of the Free?
Not if we continue to relinquish our rights.
We are inviting government control.
Last week an ABC World News Tonight report said that some independent pharmacists are refusing to sell contraceptive devices. They also refuse to fill prescriptions for that purpose. The Illinois legislature is considering legislation that would require pharmacists to sell these items.
This is a battle over individual rights. The question is “Whose rights should prevail?” Or is it? To me, it’s another example of our willingness to relinquish our right to make choices for ourselves. A choice we could easily retain IF we learned to respect each other’s choices.
The third step, in the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE, is learning to suspend judgment. We suspend judgment when we respect the rights of others to make their own decisions. When we deprive others of that right, we risk forfeiting that right for ourselves.
Every time we turn over the decision-making process to legislators or the courts, we not only relinquish the right to choose for ourselves, we relinquish a future right - the right to change that decision. Anyone who has ever tried to overturn prior legislation or set new court precedent knows exactly what I mean. Conversely, if we craft solutions on our own, we reserve the right to craft new solutions as the situation changes.
If pharmacists, when notifying their customers of their choice not to sell contraceptive devices and medications, would have provided alternative sources to their customers, they would have shown respect for the choices their customers make while honoring their own choices.
Similarly, if customers who choose contraception would respect the religious or moral beliefs of these pharmacists, they’d quickly realize that there are alternatives that fit their needs while respecting the choices of the pharmacist. We live in a world of on-line pharmacies! Orders are delivered right to our doors. These “aggrieved” customers can’t even argue inconvenience.
It’s counter-intuitive, but when we initiate a battle over personal rights, we:
- Waste time fighting when we could be crafting solutions
- Give others the right to decide what’s right for us
- Forfeit our future rights to decide our fate
Is that what we want? If not, let’s learn to respect each others choices and find ways to help each other find the solutions that are right for them while honoring our own choices.
Send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com and let me know what topics you’d like addressed.
Tags: counter-intuitive thinking, rights
August 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Give me a break!! I respect others’ choices just fine. If a person CHOOSES to become a pharmacist, he can’t CHOOSE to fulfill only part of his obligation to his profession or customer. The chemistry and the technology exist to help people prevent pregnancy. Pharmacists can’t CHOOSE to ignore the science that undergirds their profession. What next? If a patient is prescribed painkillers, will the pharmacist CHOOSE not to fill that Rx because the patient might overdose and kill himself? Or because the pharmacist believes that everyone ought to bear up under adversity and withstand the pain? Is it counterintuitive to think that one’s personal religious preferences ought not to interfere with other people’s rights to CHOOSE their own way of life?
August 18th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Barry,
I presume, then, that you feel that business owners do not have a right to refuse service to any customer. Is that correct? If that’s so then you’re saying the customer’s preferences - religious, moral or simply life choices - take precedent over the business owner’s right to make choices. Are you suggesting that we provide legal protection to those business owners so that they aren’t held liable for choices over which they have no control?
My point is that each of us has rights to choose what’s right for us. If we respect that right in others, we have that right as well. If we insist on imposing our choices on others, then we open the door for others to impose theirs on us.
Thank you for the stimulating dialogue. Whether or not you agree with me, you have the right to your opinion and I do respect that. I hope that you will continue to post comments in the future.
Best wishes,
Dale