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Summary:
It
was a hot summer day as I was waiting for a friend out on the side
walk. My mind was wondering off as a student was wheeling himself
up the hills of UCLA. He was handicapped on the other side of the
street. I took note of his presence. It was not the first time that
I have seen him, moreover, the picture has always been the same;
looking from afar, he was alone. I want to leap across the street
to greet him with a hello and introduce myself. But it was too late
as he strolled further and further away. I made a vow to myself
that day that the next time I see this him, I will make an effort
to find out his name. In today’s society, rather than appreciating
the life that was given to us, we strive to reach what we perceive
as normal. With genetic technology, we struggle to ameliorate many
illness and forms of suffering. Moreover, we push to re-engineer
organs that have enhanced their specific skills for us to use. Not
only are we defining normality to genetically disease-less, but
we want to redefine it by increasing our abilities, pushing the
idea of being normal to a new level. Is this alright for humans
to pursue? Is there something wrong with wanting to strive to be
healthier? Many of us are blinded by misinterpretations of facts.
Never before has the history of Science been able to as deeply affect
our lives as genetic engineering will undoubtedly do. To go against
this recent technology are anti-technologists (either with fundamentalists’
viewpoint or non-fundamentalists’ viewpoint) who want to put
a halt to the growing technology that will yield an unprecedented
results for us in the near future. Imagine being able to choose
the best genes for our offspring will soon be possible. Before I
pursue on to defend genetic engineering, we must be able to answer
an old question, "Do the ends justify the means?" In order
to lift the blinds from our eyes, we must understand the extraordinary
potential of genetic engineering, and moreover, find that the ends
due justify the means. Thus a new world will soon arrive.
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