"To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity."

H. H. Benedict XVI. Caritas in Veritate Encyclical. June 29, 2009

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

We all save lives

I meet this guy and he says: "My work is to save lives. I'm a doctor". I answer: "Great! Mine too is to save lives!". He says: "Are you a doctor too?". I answer: "No, I'm an economist". He sees me frowning. I explain:

"An economist job is, for instance, to tell people how the economy is faring. This helps people to take decisions; in particular decisions related with the best way to finance colleges where medicine is taught, to finance profitable colleges and to shut down unprofitable ones. Other people decides on hiring or firing doctors, or on how to invest funds in order to pay hospital rolls.

By the way, all other people too helps in saving lives: the security officer outside the hospital, the traffic officer in the streets which helps doctors and security officers to arrive on time to their jobs, the man who sells the yachts which are the reason why some doctors decide to work at night, etc.

The fact that we only see the clock hands but not the pinions or ratchets are not an argument at all to conclude that only the hands are instrumental to allow a clock to work."

So, yes the doctor helps to save lives. He is the last part of a process not designed (and not designable!) by anyone but which nevertheless works. But as long as the doctor has a claim to say that he saves lives, anyone else has it too.

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