Hydras and Philosophies

Dignity.

A good word, thought I as I walked past some poster board advertising some physical disease or defect that people have to live with.

It was especially interesting because of a thought process I'd been following that day: What is dignity, how does one gain or lose it, and is it a necessity of life? If it is, can it be given or taken by others, or does it have to be one's own doing to gain or lose? Are the rules of dignity straightforward, or do they depend on the individuals view?

It was a surprisingly deep train of thought, considering I'd been up until 6 am the day before finishing off an essay for class. I didn't manage to come to any definite conclusions though. Every single question I figured out led to about 5 more. Since when did ethical questions and philosophy merge with hydras? Usually, when someone answers a question it is, for the sake of metaphor, like killing a dragon. You chop it's head off, it's dead. But with philosophical debate questions, every time someone tries to answer it's like doing battle with a Hydra. Every "kill" brings about five more heads to chop off. If you've ever seen the Disney movie "Hercules", you know the image I'm thinking of.

This train of thought, coupled with the poster, made me start thinking about mentally challenged people. Now, I'm not here to start a grand debate about the ethical decisions of aborting mentally challenged children or euthanasia, or burden on society/family/quality of life or any of it. I'm merely considering it from a point of view of having, or not having dignity.

I suppose first we must define dignity. I would think (too lazy to go dictionary-ing, and to be perfectly honest, I look up too many words in a day anyway) that dignity would be a sense of pride in oneself, a confidence and a way of behaving that is in no way degrading according to a persons personal sensibilities.

Assuming this is true, what happens to people who were born normal, but through an accident or some awful situation in their lives, become handicapped and mentally disabled? These people likely knew a good quality of life, where they had friends and family, took part in groups or interests, etc. But after a misfortune such as a car accident or a serious debilitating disease, is dignity still a focus in their lives?

Of course, their relatives and those who care about them want to preserve the newly disabled persons sense of self, and try to keep up a standard of self-esteem, but when someone else is feeding you, putting you to bed, changing your clothes, changing your diaper and all of that, after years of independence, does dignity remain intact? or does the individual's definition of dignity change?

I have never been in such a position before, but I think that in my case I would feel ashamed that someone else was doing all this for me, when I used to be independent and do it all myself. I would feel useless I think, and without any shred of dignity. Physical limitations aside, I would not be able to stand tall and be proud of myself despite being completely dependent on another person. I don't know, to me it just seems wrong.

Please, no flaming for this, but I think that perhaps some people should accept that their time is running out after an accident that makes them a complete vegetable, instead of holding on to life in the hopes that somehow, someday, there will be a cure for their short-circuited brain. I think of life as a percentage thing, sort of like a grade over the course of a semester. If you do really well in the first half, but then mess it all up in the second half, your grade will be on the pass/fail, 50% line. What if you could stop the semester half-way through? Quit while you're ahead, as the saying goes. Then, the life you did live was a good one, great even! and not half living half existing (there is a difference), which would make for an okay life.

It's these sorts of questions that make me grateful I'm not a philosophy student.