January 29, 2005
Million-Dollar Baby: Do the Disabled have any Value?
Genesis 9:5-6. For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning . . . Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in His own image.Clint Eastwood's newest hit (and darling of the Academy Awards), Million-Dollar Baby, makes a suggestion that I can't possibly overlook. For the record, I haven't yet seen the movie and won't at least until it comes on video. However, I do understand clearly what the movie is about and how it ends.
In the movie, the main female character, Maggie, becomes quadriplegic and, naturally (since this is a Hollywood film), wants someone to kill her. The movie at its essence is about euthanasia and directly attacks the Catholic Church's position by including an obscene priest who just can't seem to articulate the reasons why euthanasia is wrong. The problem here borders on value: does a disabled person's life have value? Apparently not, according to Clint Eastwood who fulfills her wish at the end of the movie.
I think the problem with all of this is our society's lack of wonder at life. Once life isn't special and doesn't have value in and of itself, then abortion, euthanasia, and other issues seem "humane."
When someone lives with suffering, they are still a valuable part of our society. Our worth comes not from what we do, but who we are as a person. Maggie defines herself as a purely physical being, so she kills the intellectual and spiritual part of her being because her physical functionality doesn't do what it once could. This is a terrible disaster, since she becomes spiritually lost in a fundamental sense – she chooses to remove her existence because it isn't what she wants.
As people, we have intrinsic value just in existence. Through suffering we are perfected as children of God. Perhaps God allowed Maggie's injury in an attempt to save her soul, but was thwarted by a man who killed her as if it were an act of love.
Remember, the fifth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” forbids all murder and does not allow for exceptions. Suicide and euthanasia are still forms of murder and, thus, are forbidden. Emotionally, I can understand the desire to end suffering, but it is always wrong.
God bless,
Jay
PS – I’m also annoyed by the marketing of the movie which fails to point out that this is a propaganda piece meant to push Hollywood “values” (if you can call them that) on the rest of the US.
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First of all, I thought it's common-sense, but I'd reinterate anyway: how about watch a movie before you put forth your passionate reaction? The movie is about two individuals having to make a tough decision, one who chooses death over life, and another that decided to help her. Neither were presented as obvious choices, and intelligent viewers should receive it as a question raised rather than a solution provided. Isn't that the exact reason why God gave us free will? Can you look at it as part of God's grand plan to challenge every one of us to realize why euthanesia might be wrong?
I'm not trying to justify Maggie's decision in the film, we all have to make our own judgement. Just that personally, if taking one's own life is a sin, I think it's a much lesser sin than a lot of the sins that people around us are partaking everyday, from adultery to child molestation to invading helpless countries with no good reason.
Bravo!
Posted by: Wrastler at February 4, 2005 12:50 AMJay,
The move "Million Dollar Baby" portrayed the importance and feasbility of growing toward our dreams as we all approach death. The transition of Clint Eastwood from the beginning to the end of the movie represented how men are fortunately being pressured toward more "feminine" values in society.
The movie was about the relationship between man and woman, but it also symbolized the relationship between feminine and masculine. The final scene, where he euthanizes her, represented his last rebellious transition (in the context of religion) from the traditional male to the more modern (empathizingly emotive) male. It was beautiful.
Isn't it interesting how Clint attended Catholic mass for over 20 years, but he only truly found himself by empathizing and caring for a woman?
Forget about the bible, that old and irrelevant book, and find peace in deep empathy and compassion. Forget about religion, seek inner truth and spirituality.
Peace,
Chris
Chris,
I didn't think I need to say this, but apparently you missed this point: the movie is fiction, Chris, not reality. So just because a character in a fiction movie finds himself through murder and not through God, doesn't mean it's possible for you. You may want to take note: many of the other movies you watch are also fiction.
Now to your point. You seem to suggest that we can "find peace" by killing our friends if they become disabled? The problem here is that "inner truth and spirituality" are completely vacuous without religion. You cannot create truth and truth is not relative; it is an external reality that allows us to find contentment and peace. Truth can only come from God, not from men. Also, what happens to "inner truth and spirituality" when we are dead and our bodies rot in the ground? Are you hoping that your "inner truth" will raise your dead corpse?
By the way, if "truth" is inside of each of us, shouldn't murder be disallowed since it extinguishes a truth that cannot be found outside of the person murdered?
Seek truth, Chris, it will set you free.
God bless,
Jay
Jay,
I think that religion without inner truth and spirituality is completely vacuous. And many religious teachers seek to disconnect us from our deep inner wisdom and our ability to experience God directly - without a church, a minister, a book, a set of rules.
I saw both movie characters as having a spirituality far deeper than the proscribed morality of our old, dying religious traditions based on the fantasy of a punative masculine god. The Divine (god and goddess) is far greater than the Christian God who was invented in the image of man.
Of course it was a movie. But works of art (books, movies, visual art, music, dance, etc.) are metaphors - ways in which we explore and deepen our understandings of the great mysteries. They are tools to help us move forward. Frankie was a far more moral man than that dim-witted priest.
I love that this movie is allowing us to think and talk about this difficult issue.
Peace, Mara
Posted by: mara evas at February 27, 2005 11:51 AM
