A matter of life and death
Do people have the right to die, get or donate an organ or abort an unborn baby? As bioethical challenges grow, our society is still entangled in the moral and legal debates
By Raheela Zafar

Invention and discovery run deep in the blood of mankind. There is no era in the history that has remained barren in this regard, but in the present age the advancement in technology is much more rapid than at any other time. It can be estimated from the fact that the number of patent applications in the US is close to half a million a year.

But technology also brings challenges and questions that need satisfactory answers which are sometimes hard on souls. That is the point from where the role of a genuine philosopher begins.

The woman and her brothers were literally fearful in the reception of a private hospital in Defense Housing Society, Lahore, in 2000. Their 95-years-old mother was in coma and on her death bed, her progeny from near and far off places had gathered to voice their tender feelings. They had come, leaving behind their children and wives, their jobs, their assignments. Doctors had told them that the patient’s existing condition could drag from a few days to many years. The family was genuinely fearful, not of death but fearful of the life that is worse than hundred deaths — the machine-bound life, that is increasingly becoming a mark of modern technologies.

Who is to decide the future of the old woman and for how long this machine operated life will continue? May be as long as the wealthy children will be able to pay for the bills? But is there any moral obligation on them to make this purchase, when a lot of deserving patients with high possibilities of survival will not be able to get it because of her? Did the patient give her consent to live her last days in a machine?

In 2006, the fair complexioned round faced student of mine was not fortunate. She was FSc student in Defense Degree College, Lahore. She suffered kidney failure at the age of 13. Once she told me that when her father advertised for a kidney donor their doorbell kept ringing the whole day by the skimpy figures desirous to sell their kidney… to buy some medicine for their loved one, to wed off their daughter, or by the addicts who wanted to push themselves for few more days.

“Teacher”, she told me her story after the transplanting surgery, “it was my father’s first experience dealing with the buying of an organ from a living needy donor. We were totally baffled. We kept asking for the rules and sought answers from ulema but it was of no use. There were no answers to many questions that lurked in our minds; are we doing the right act by depriving one individual from his vital organ? Finally, we had to turn to our judgment.”

The right to die (euthanasia) and the right to get or donate an organ are two selected examples from a series of very complicated issues related to advancement in medicine and other life sciences, (bioethical issues) which the technologically advanced societies are confronting these days. For instance, the western world is confronting the bioethical issues from 1970. And presently, they have a long list — surrogate motherhood, stem cell research, spiritual drug use, cloning, reproductive rights, body modifications, artificial life and many more. This never ending list keeps on growing with every passing day.

In contrast, the Muslim world in general and our country in particular is in an embryonic state technologically, and hence faces comparatively simpler issues like contraception, population control, euthanasia, organ transplant/donation, and abortion. But unfortunately, this list is bound to grow as we too are a part of the growing global village.

For example, India has the greatest network that provides services for surrogate motherhood. With the continual efforts to normalise relations between the two countries, and the open trade policies, I don’t see how we will be able to stop the childless couples from the allure of parenthood and availing the services of Indian surrogate mothers, donors and the doctors.

Regarding abortion, the world’s best brains have not come out yet with a satisfactory solution acceptable to all. Arguments from both sides — pro-life and pro-choice — are equally enthusiastic. In poor countries like Pakistan where guidance and female education is scanty, it is not surprising that there are chains of clinics that carry out abortions illegally by untrained hands resulting in serious medical complications, sometimes even death. Can it be stopped? Can we think about some ways to distinguish one case from the other?

The most challenging aspect of bioethics is that every society will have to seek its own solution from theology, politics, law and moral philosophy and find answers by interaction and discussion with all stakeholders and get them settled before they get too tangled and harsh on our souls and bodies.

It is the moral duty of our intellectuals, religious scholars, social workers, reformers and politicians to debate and research the life-changing issues, and guide the masses, keeping in mind our culture, mindset, literacy standards, and the intimacy with which we live with our religion. The western models can be used for guidance and direction but can’t be followed blindly as their set of priorities is different from ours.

The points worth considering are to separate the immoral from the illegal, as what is immoral is not necessarily illegal. We normally consider divorce as immoral but it is not illegal, similarly abortion in some particular cases could be illegal but it is not always immoral.

(The writer is an academician with a specialisation in biological sciences)

Mobile phones in class, why not?
If students are properly guided and monitored,
 mobile phones can also be used as a learning tool
By Raheela S. Zafar

A couple of weeks back, in biology class, a student took her mobile phone and started clicking it from various angles. Standing at a distance, I remained a bit surprised.

Cell phones are banned in the college where I work, so needless to say that everyone has them in her bag and a rare courage is required to display them openly. How comes the girl student is using it so boldly in my class?

I approached her and found her to be taking pictures of the dissected frog lying in front of her from varying angles and sending them to others who were a bit less daring to do it in front of the teacher. I smiled at her and she regained her confidence.

“Madam it is helpful. When I get home, I will show it to my brother who is not ready to believe that I can hold a live frog let alone dissect it, and I will save the pictures in my computer to get help during my exams.” No doubt, I was impressed.

A couple of days afterwards, my sister sent me a lot of photographs of her only daughter studying in Dubai, from her classroom, where she was seen involved in various sort of activities. Well! How did you manage to take them, do they allow you to visit the class room so frequently?

No, its just that the teachers of the junior classes take pictures quite on regular basis with their cell phones and they send pictures to the parents to keep them informed about the activities of their wards in the class room and administration keep observing that a child should not be seen timid, shocked, frightened, untidy, etc, etc.

A controversy, regarding the use of mobile phones in teaching institutions is going on all over the world.

A few days back, in an examination centre a shawl-clad student was constantly moving her fingers inside her shawl. Invigilator was confused but could not catch her without an obvious proof, but eventually a mobile phone was found that was used for texting questions to the helper sitting outside the examination hall. During college functions parents complained that photographs of their daughters in improper drama costumes were taken by fellow students and pasted on facebook.

The breach of privacy is another woe of mobile phone users as teachers are reluctant to give their phone numbers to every student fearful of their misuse.

It is not at all surprising that mobiles remained banned in secondary and higher secondary schools in most countries of the world as technology is an unlucky maid and seldom accepted immediately. But In 2009, certain research based studies were carried out to find out the practical applications of mobile devices, particularly mobile phones, as most students have them.

A project, TACCLE PROJECT, particularly studied the use of mobiles as a learning tool in classrooms for the students of secondary and intermediate classes. What distinguishes their work is that they went for the practical research, observed and interviewed teachers and students in the institutions where mobiles are allowed.

We can even suggest some ways of computer use in certain Pakistani schools for the purpose of study. We consider those mobile phones only with camera, camcorder and internet access. I-phones, tablets, and blackberries, etc, have been deliberately excluded as these devices are not affordable for a big number.

The use of mobile phones will be cost effective for schools.

 Mobile phones with simple devices such as camera and recorders can be very useful in the life science classes used for field trips, botanical and zoological gardens, simple lab experiments related to growth and development.

Mobile phones can also be used to enhance creativity of the young minds by formulating best SMSs, twitter messages, text blogs and picture blogs.

Students can build their confidence by asking those questions which they find difficult or they are embarrassed to ask in the class publicly.Through SMS polling, students can send immediate message to teachers for formative assessment.

Can be used as a dictionary; spell checker, thesaurus and encyclopedic in linguistics.A teacher can ask students to take a picture with their phone around a particular theme or can send everyone in the class a picture she wants them to study/talk about.

Students can make up jingles for a particular topic, key dates for a history test, a poem to be learned for a literature test, a foreign language phrase and lists of chemical elements in a particular group in the Periodic Table!

Use sites like gabcast or evoca to make ‘instant’ podcasts straight from a mobile that can be accessed from a mobile (and you only have to be over 13 to use them) without having to use podcasting software.

Creating mini-documentaries using the camera in their phone. Recording field trips using photos or voices or texting back observations to other pupils.Working on the same project while being at different places and talking via instant-messaging.

Recording science experiments and including the pictures/video with their written reports.Using twitter. If students are properly guided and monitored, mobile phones can also be used as a learning tool and that will also reduce the distraction problem. They can be taught the ways of avoiding the abuse of mobile devices such as net safety, phony identities, cyber crimes and protocols.

The writer is a lecturer-

Published in "The News" on Sunday April 29, 2012

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2012-weekly/nos-29-04-2012/pol1.htm#4

THE SAGE OF THE SAGE-LESS TIMES

The Sage of the sage- less times.
Many a years ago, some analyst wrote about Nelson Mandela ‘’he is the hero of the hero less era’’, a mourner on Diana’s death expressed that she was the fairy tale character of this fairy less age. After finishing any of Paulo Coelho’s work, I always feel like giving him the title of’’ the sage of the sage less times’’.
AND I HAVE REASONS TO BUILD THIS FAITH ABOUT HIM
In spite of having a great respect and appreciation, present day man cannot relate his life to Khalil Gibran and not to Ghazali, Saddi and Confucius, their intellect sounds to be unachievably elevated and remote, probably Iqbal and Milton also seem to belong to the time we have learned about, but not experienced, and man always need someone to fill intellectual /spiritual black hole of his personality ,to which he falls quite so often while living in this world. And COHELO physically belongs to our world.
Our world-- full of noisy, soul less words. People tweet live, but the most identified rationalization given for suicide victim is loneliness. Our world -- that console itself with the mistakes of others
.Paulo Coelho does not impress me and millions others merely because he authors, The Alchemist, (the record making bestseller that has been translated into more than 70 languages, won Guinness world record for most translated book by a living author. )
He has got other reasons to occupy the high pedestal of being the spiritual/intellectual guide of many,We find his words in complete harmony to the songs/pangs of our soul. His wounds are no different from the soreness present on the body of modern man and best of all he does not feign power before the crippled.
You can shed tears while reading his biography and feel yourself a part of his journey
I have read almost all of his books, and I admit that after going through the first four (or to the maximum Five) one feel the replication of the same thought that was very forcefully conveyed in his early works, but in spite of this limitation, numerous lines from his books are really fitting to be the Quotable Quotes. They are an attention-grabbing read and highly thought provoking.
There are many e-sites which give access to the best lines from his work, I wonder who selects them, because I found much better lines remain unquoted.
I have conserved some remarkable words from his books, and the lines the sage has himself selected from holy books and old classical literature in my personal diary. These words provide consolation and guidance in some restless moments.The following lines are meant for those who believe in the healing power of the words
. In his work, The zahir, he quotes
“What man of you , having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and the nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it” (luke15;4)
ABOUT LOVE AND HATRED
· The energy of hatred wont get you anywhere ;but the energy of forgiveness , which reveals itself through love will transform your life in a positive way
· Love is the only thing that never fails.
ABOUT SUFFERING AND TRAGEDY
· Suffering and tragedy; they happen because they are part of life and should not be seen as a punishment. Generally speaking, the universe tells us when we are wrong by taking away that is most important to us.
· Ever since the dark ages, man has understood that suffering, if confronted without fear, is his passport to freedom.
ABOUT LIFE
· Show some respect for your time on this earth
· Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant.
ABOUT DIVINITY
· Divinity is everywhere all the time. You cannot take the divinity out of nature and put it in a book or between four walls.
· The invisible world always manifests itself in the visible world
ABOUT THIS WORLD
· The world IS A DANGEROUS PLACE TO LIVE, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who do not do anything about it
· God does not play dice with the universe; everything is interconnected and have a meaning. That meaning may remain hidden nearly all the time, but we always know we are close to our true mission on earth when what we are doing is touched with the energy of enthusiasm
ABOUT OUR DESTINy
What's the world's greatest lie?... It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lost what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.”
I believe that the sage’s words can heal some soars of the present day man.