Editorial: The difficulty faced when dealing with issues of morality

The balance of morality has also been an issue that has plagued society. As I sat back the other day and listened to the news, it made me think about the amount of money being spent by taxpayers to address issues. Not issues that are a joint collaboration, but issues where money could be applied to other areas.

I’ll provide you the example that brought this editorial about. Over the last few weeks, specifically in the Richmond area, the opioid and overdose crisis has resulted in multiple deaths. In Charles City and New Kent, the issue is growing at a rapid pace.

As human beings we are supposed to value lives. It’s painful to watch as someone has passed out to drugs and are revived by cans of Narcan. I remember sitting in court and hearing about one officer using four cans to bring someone back to life. That’s scary.

But each of these Narcan kits cost about $20 apiece. He government is funding these kits as part of the opioid epidemic. But what is we took that $20 and put it somewhere else? Remember, the funding for the crisis is in the millions of dollars. What if we applied it to enhance drug prevention programs even more? It won’t stop the use of drugs, but it may slow it down.

That is one of the things I thought about when it came to the issue of morality. Taxpayer money or even funds in general deal with a lot of things. For example, do we spend taxpayer money to provide prisoners a roof over their heads or do we put it back into the homeless community? Should we use state funding to widen roads for a five-mile stretch or provide more education opportunities for students?

These are truly decisions of morality that we ponder every day, even if it doesn’t seem like it. As a society we want to move forward but we have to make these decisions. It’s like an election but on a grander scale where we have representatives to cast that vote for us and to make that decision.

The saying “life isn’t fair” is something that is definitely true. The question is, can we work to form decisions that makes us a better society. We all won’t agree on them, but we all must find a way to become better and more knowledgeable of our interactions.