Issue212：第一篇，求拍：）

crossbowUID: 2689120

TOPIC: ISSUE212 - "If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it is justifiable."
WORDS: 471          TIME: 00:45:00          DATE: 2010-2-15 14:24:21

Usually, the means of attaining a goal, whether in the past or today, are multiple. People can weight the tradeoffs of all possible approaches they can takeand make a choice among them. Occationally, there do exist the case that only a few options are available, and such options are either non-ethical or injust. Whether anyone should achieve a goal, even it's worthy, by any means depends on real situations.

Sometimes, people have to take actions which are controversial, or even immoral to solve urgent problems. The reason why only to solve "urgent" problems is that in a long run, people can usually figure out better ways.
Considering the example of population control. In some developing Asian countries, such as China and India, parents are not allowed, by law, to have more than one child. If they do not obey the law, they will be brought to hospitals and forced to lose the ability of reproduction. This is a controversial issue, which has been debated for decades. Some human righ activists argue that such laws are unfair, and deprive humans of their basic rights to reproduce. At the same time, the goverments stress that without population control, more severe problems, such as poverty, food shortage, education, and crimes will be caused by rapid-growing number of people. Abortion is also a similar issue, which affect many young couples and their families.

There are also example from Chinese history. During the Qing Dystany, some old emperors poisoned some of their sons so that they can keep their successors from conflicts and warfare. Such means are not only immoral actions but also very hard decisions for emperors themselves. The reason why they have to do that way is to assure the stability of the emperor and the peace of the society.

However, while people are figuring out ways to achive their goals, they should not forget they are humans, leaders, and even role models. They should be responsible for their choices and be accountable for the consequences of their actions. Those who break the law should be trailed and punished. And those who make non-ethical decisons and take negative actions will be criticized by their comtemporaries and successors. Moreover, means which are illegal, or immoral themselves not only harm others, but also imposes negative influences on other people. Without doubt, people who have been harmed by such actions or witnessed such accidents may lose confidence in laws, and in moral standards, and they may in turn take harmful actions and affect social stability.

Therefore, when people are making choices on the means to attain their goals, they should take into consieration ethical and moral standards, laws, and possible consequences that their choices may lead to. Choosing any means without thorough understanding of possible consequences and tradeoffs, may put themselves and their goals at the stake.