If I am the captain of a sinking ship, and I have to pick someone to stay with me on that sinking ship, I will ask for a volunteer first. If no one would volunteer, I would have to make a quick decision to pick one person to stay with me and ten people to go on the lifeboat. This kind of discussion is not easy to make, but it is necessary for their safety. Careful consideration needs to be made to ensure that the people chosen for the lifeboat have the best possible rate of survival.
I will start with Jason Alexander who is a priest, healthy, and 47 years old. I would put him on the lifeboat. I would choose Amanda and Michelle Williams to go on the lifeboat as well because Michelle is a mother of four, and Amanda is a child. I could not choose the mother or the daughter because I think it's unethical to leave the mother on the ship with her daughter watching the ship sink from the lifeboat. Kevin Surrey is going to be on the lifeboat because his wife and kids will be waiting for his return. Mike Turry is going on the lifeboat because he is young and did not experience a lot of things in his life yet. Kris Watson who is the head chef and first mate on the ship will be sent on the lifeboat because he has the experience and can help the others by making sure everyone will be safe. Also, Kris is the main supporter of his family of seven. I would send Kelly Wilson on the lifeboat not because she is my daughter, but because she is pregnant. Keeping her on the sinking boat means killing two people instead of one. Shannon Thompson will go on the lifeboat too. Shannon is a sick child, and it's not ethical to keep her with me on the sinking boat. She has the chance to be cured hopefully. Susan Swanson should be on the lifeboat because she is young and has her boyfriend waiting for her.
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I cannot imagine myself in this position. Deciding who is going to stay with me on the sinking boat is the hardest decision ever. I am basically deciding who is going to die. I have two more people to choose from, James Jones and Kristin Wilson. James is in good health and has no family ties. Kristin is in relatively good health considering her age, is a widow, has children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at home, and is also my mother. Finally, I will choose my mother to go on the lifeboat not because she is my mother, but because James is younger and stronger, so he might survive with a lifejacket only.
When it comes to making an ethical decision, there is no room for stereotyping and being judgmental because it can affect how people are viewed and treated, which can ultimately change the decision being made. Choosing someone to go down with the captain in order for the remaining people to live is like deciding natural law like we are God (Schafer-Landau, 2015).
In this ethical dilemma, deciding who should be safe and who should stay on the sinking boat is not necessarily right (Gonyea, n.d). Ethical dilemmas like deciding who will die and who will be safe are really hard. The life of everyone is valued and counts, but some decisions have to be made even if they are really hard.
Looking at the bright side makes me feel better about my decision. It is not immoral to give people a possible chance to survive by choosing one to sink with me on the ship. I believe it would be immoral if I will take the place of one of the survivors on the lifeboat. In the end, I chose James to go down with me on the ship because he does not have any family ties and most likely will have the chance to stay a life with a lifejacket until someone comes to help. I know it will be really hard for Kristin Wilson to watch her son sink, but she will have her big family home to care for and support her.
Reference
- Gonyea, n.d. What is an Ethical Dilemma? Retrieved from http://peopleof.oureverydaylife.com/ethical-dilemma-5575.html
- Shafer-Landau, R. (2015). The fundamentals of ethics. New York, YK: Oxford University Press.
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