Guideline for Decision Making

Female Speaker: Great. Well, let's go back to the guides for assisting us on our moral decision making and let's take it one at a time. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: The first one is law. Female Speaker: Okay. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Law is external to us and the second one is internal to us and that's our conscience. Those are very, very critical areas in making a decision. Female Speaker: Okay. Well, let's take one at a time. Let's start with law. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Okay. One of the problems that law has is that there is a placard of them and you get them from formal ways, from the civil society, or if you belong to a Church, from the Church society, or from whatever source you maybe in there in a lodge, the lodge has laws, and so on and so forth. So all kinds of organizations -- as soon as you are organized, you make laws. That has a problem because laws -- and this is an absolute, I think -- always lag behind needs. Female Speaker: Oh! okay. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: I mean, by the time you sense a need, it's already there. Female Speaker: That's right. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: By the time you make a law -- if you are in Congress, it's a long time after you have sense the need. Female Speaker: That's right. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: So the laws always lag behind the needs. Female Speaker: Okay. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: We are having that problem, for example, with global warming. We can't seem to bring ourselves to make laws about this and a lot of scientists are worried that by the time you make the appropriate laws, we would have burned off so much of the ionosphere that we will be in deep trouble and it will not be repairable easily or if at all. So laws lag behind needs. That's why as a guide, they are alright but you are not dealing with the thing that's in front of you. You are dealing with something that was in font of you sometime back and may still here in someway. Female Speaker: That's the problem with the legalism methodology guide. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Exactly and it has other problems. For example, there is no law that says, if somebody suddenly gets a heart attack on your sidewalk, you should call 911. There is no law, you will be taking to court for not calling 911, but if you don't have enough compassion to call 911, you are not worth your salt. So laws won't cover all your responsibilities to your fellow human beings. So that's another big problem. You see cannot laws like that because life is circumstantially so different, that you just can't make all those laws. I had a friend who was in the Health and the Legislature for the governor in Minnesota here a few years back and he said, "Compared to morality, law is really tough" because morality adapts to the situation and to the people involved, whereas laws have to be so worded, that they don't include too many or exclude too many and it's hard to take account of all the varying circumstances, you can't, the circumstances are too great. So you all get justice in this society with law. Female Speaker: Oh! really. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Oh, no. Laws again are going to be way behind the needs. They won't want to impose laws that are too beneficial or make people lazy or all the other things that you say. So if you want justice in the society, you are going to have to exercise charity. Female Speaker: I see, interesting. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Yeah, it's just not enough. Female Speaker: So it's a problem in a society that has a legalistic tendency to actually take care of the needs of its people. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Yes, it's a problem because a lot of people think as long as they keep the law, they have done everything they have to do. That means they have delved their sensitivities to the point where nothing else matters. Laws are so minimalistic in terms of your obligation, that you simply are looking past the problems much of the time. There was a former student of mine actually who stopped on the side of a road to help a motorist. He was a very, very kind human being. He carry extra gas, and he carry flairs, and he carry first aid kit, and he carry all kinds of things to try to help people. He got ticket for parking on the shoulder, when it wasn't the problem. So this American law in Minnesota was introduced by his Congressman because of his ticket. Female Speaker: Interesting. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: He is stopping to help people. Female Speaker: Good example of how you are trying to get a lot of cover every eventuality. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Yeah, exactly. Female Speaker: That would be a few, what I think. What you call customs and family traditions laws as well? Dr. Vincent E. Rush: They have the force of law. Female Speaker: Yeah, they do. There is a family wedding and you can really -- it's easier to get a ticket. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: That's right. Yeah, they have the force of law. In fact, in many instances they are more affective in the law at compelling behavior. You don't make laws in lot of these organizations that you are in but you know what the right thing is to do. You know what the organization excepts of you and so you get this kind of non-verbal communication -- Female Speaker: Pressure. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: -- and pressure about what to do and how to behave. Even though if you picked up the handbook of the corporation, none of that's in there. Female Speaker: Okay, interesting. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: There is a lot of that, kind of, thing. Female Speaker: But laws are still useful, when you are struggling and you don't know where to go with, what your behavior should be, you can get some guideline there. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Yeah, it's some help and in an organized society you have to have them. You have to know when to stop and when to go. As I said yesterday on the out walk, when you go faster. You have to know when the law says slippery when wet, that's a guide but it 's a judgment call. Even though the traffic signs may say 65 or 75 miles an hour, if it's IC and you are crash into somebody, they will give you a ticket for driving inappropriately in the circumstances. Female Speaker: So they even expect you interpret the law. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: Yeah, they expect that and they should because of the reason a human being has to be aware of the situation they are in. Circumstances are ahead a bad name but if we have some time later on, I want to talk about that. Female Speaker: Okay. Dr. Vincent E. Rush: There are some circumstances that are very important.