A.

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Cite at least three important lessons learned and how they can answer the situation of Tracy

Latimer.   Introduction, Body, and Conclusion paragraphs.

The life of Tracy Latimer goes with the story of a child that is stricken by a condition that

is known to be a cerebral palsy of which she was killed by her own father. This story has

convulsed the world, creating different exchange of arguments with different point of views

regarding this case. Robert Latimer, the father of the deceased child, was tested in court of which

he pleaded not guilty despite his admittance that the child was killed by his own hands. He also

affirmed his stand that what he did was right as it was out of mercy and was never an act of

murder. This claim has sparked a myriad of controversies and diverse reactions from the public

considering the pro-life advocates who sympathized with how Tracy Latimer ended up with such

hilarious situation. On the other hand, Robert Latimer was still accompanied by several

supporters who believe that his act was right and just, stating that Tracy was severely suffering

from her disabilities, thus her agony must come to an end.

With James Rachel’s “Element of Moral Philosophy” book, I have identified several

events that exposes the reason of why the events have resulted to such situation. In 1993, his

father transferred her in the cab of his truck to suffocate her using a pipe that is exhausted with

fumes. When her life was finally taken, his parents did not even bother to show grief, hence they

were relieved to find her dead as they believed that it was the right thing to do, and that the child

didn’t have the courage to kill herself. As a result, Mr. Latimer was tried and sentenced to one

year in prison. However, the Supreme Court of Canada directed them to follow the mandatory

rule of which his sentence lasted for seven years.

 By assessing these aspects, the question that is left in my mind was “Did Mr. Latimer do

anything wrong?” as also stated by Rachel as a cliffhanger in his book. By evaluating these

scenarios in the Latimer’s case, I came up with a summary of how I perceived things. Firstly,

taking someone’s life is not and should never be our decision. Who are we to declare that

someone’s life should be taken? We are merely just humans after all, and we must have

compassion towards one another. Careful decisions should be analyzed before coming up with a

conclusion or an action. Seeing how Robert Latimer came up with such a cruel decision makes

me disappointed about how he became so optionless despite many other alternatives rather than

taking away someone’s life. Her daughter’s vulnerable situation deserves more love, care,

attention, and protection especially the one that comes from his parents.

Secondly, killing the disabled with the reason of mercy is unacceptable. Killing is

morally outrageous and it violates human rights as we all know that killing is a sin. By killing

this handicapped who is needy of care and mobility, he deprived her of life when all she need is

domesticity. Surely, Tracy could not even tell what she feels because of her circumstance but

that does not validate someone to conclude her decision. We can never tell what she really thinks

inside her fragile state, that is why above all, we should always give them choices.

Lastly, life is important, and we should respect and promote its sanctity instead of

dehumanizing it. Our life is bestowed from God as we believe it to be and therefore, it is Him

who should decide when the time is it should be taken back. Robert’s sickening desire to end her

daughter’s life out of mercy was indeed inhumane and cruel. It has become a way for him to tell

his narrative to defend himself from actually purging his burden that hinders him to live

normally. This act has become an excuse and is obviously emerging as of today to perform this

kind of act. What bothers me is that it persuades other people to do the same horrendous at of
mercy killing of which brutality was being promoted. The life of a disabled person was not being

valued in this scenario which is a depressing fact that could also reflect back to the society to

treat them this way. We should not let our emotions, irrational thinking, personal dilemmas, and

individual prejudice dominate our life decisions. Instead, we must always find a way to do

holistic actions that promotes inclusivity, love, and respect.

In conclusion, my personal sense and moral sensibility have assessed that these things

will never be tolerable. By simply knowing that killing is a sin which breaks our moral codes

proves to be a reason of why we should not allow this kind of act to be performed nor promoted

in our society. I want to maintain my stand until the end that life is important, and we should not

do any acts that would detriment is precious value over our irrational views that blinds us from

being humane. A father should deliver care, guidance, and support to his children and become

the hero, the defender, and the rescuer of his children of all their needs. Tracy Latimer’s

narrative serves as an awareness, not just for families with a disabled member, but for all

precious beings in our society that discrimination of our life values has becoming more rampant

and we should take a step to combat this. Considering person with disabilities was indeed a

backbreaking task for all of us but we have to live with it as how life was supposed to be. It has

become a part of our lives since then and what we have to do is to show continuous care and

support towards each other, sustaining each and everyone’s needs for a holistic development to

happen. This act is what we are supposed to focus on, something that is valuable as how our lives

are, something that hones us to become a better version of ourselves each day that passes.