Introduction
Heinz, a simple man from a small town in somewhere in Europe, was living a normal life with his wife. One day, his wife suddenly fell ill. She was caught severely by a deadly disease which can only be cured by a special medication containing some form of radium in it. Only one druggist in the same town discovered that drug and was hoping to earn great amount of money from his discovery. He priced his drug about $2000 for a small amount, this price was ten times more then what his cost of materials were, specially radium which cost around $ 200 only. Heinz found out about the druggist, and hoped for life of her lovely wife. He was aghast to see the price of the drug which was too expensive for him. He had only $1000 with him, he promised the druggist that he will pay remaining amount slowly and surely, but Heinz requested the druggist to at least listen to his plea and help him save his wife. The Druggist’s heart did not melt to Heinz’s request, he was dreaming only about the money he can make from sales of this drug.
Heinz on the other hand tried it all to convince the drug maker to sell at lower price but the druggist was adamant on the price. Finally, after running out of all choices, Heinz decided to save his wife by stealing the drug from the drug maker.
Moral issues from the story
There are certain issues this story presents, that are related to morality of the men.
One of them is what is more important to human in this era of selfishness a life or money?
Is stealing can be justified in order to save a life?
What the druggist should have done?
It is not easy for a man to drop his greed once he is full of it. The druggist was full of greed and ambition to make money. He although made a great discovery that should have saved many lives, but his main aim behind discovery of drug is not to save lives but to make money. When Heinz approached him and requested, ideally he should have sold the medicine at low cost, as even at $1000 he was making profit of $800. He could have made desired money by selling his drug to rich people or hospitals. For the sake of humanity he should have sold the drug to Heinz, but he did not as his greed took the best of his humanity and compassion.
Is Heinz’s stealing justified?
As a loving husband, his act of stealing drug from Druggist’s store is justified! Life is more important then morals, although this can be a base of great arguments amongst cultures. Although Heinz should have try to arranged money from his friends or relatives before stealing, but anyways his crime reduced when we see that ‘the end was more important then means.’ According to the Bible, Exodus, one of the 10 commandments god gave was ‘YOU SHALL NOT STEAL’ but God himself has said in Torah law that the 10 commandments are the most important laws of life but still if there is a risk of life, then life should be given precedence over observance of Torah law. Hence Heinz’s act of stealing in order to save his wife’s life is justified as even God says so.
Work Cited:
1. J. Harary C.”Stealing to save someone’s life”. Web. 20 March 2011
2. United Church of God. “The eighth commandment-Do not steal”. Web. 17 March 2011
