Seven Pounds

Reading this story created two main questions in my mind is there really a standard used to determine a good person? And second would be how did Tim Thomas pick his recipients?

This Jeopardy part played out in my mind while reading the story of, Seven Pounds. It is so heartwarming that it was filmed in 2008 starred Will Smith as Tim Thomas , but all throughout the story he uses the name Ben his brother's name to which the reason is revealed at the end. He is a depressed and guilt ridden man. The story centers on a tragic event. Two years previous, Tim was driving with his fiancée, Sarah. While driving, he became distracted from using his cell phone and he caused a crash with another vehicle. Seven people died 6 people in the other vehicle and Tim's fiancée. Tim survived. This event produces immense guilt in Tim and he looks for redemption by transforming the lives of seven people. Tim donates a lung lobe to his brother, Ben (an IRS employee), a liver to a woman named Holly (a social services worker), a kidney to George (a hockey coach), and bone marrow to a young boy named Nicholas. In order to choose his last three recipients, Tim uses his brother's identity, an IRS officer, to obtain private information and to enable meetings with the recipients.

He also chooses a blind meat salesman named Ezra, a victim of domestic violence, Connie, and Emily, a greeting card printer with a heart condition with whom Tim falls in love. Tim gives his beautiful beach house to Connie so that she and her two children can escape the abusive boyfriend. Tim's gift to Ezra and Emily came after he committed suicide in a bath tub. He died by putting a venomous box jellyfish in the tub with him. Ezra received Tim's corneas and Emily received Tim's heart.

There is much more that can be described about this touching story such as the last part when Ezra and Emily meet for the first time after receiving their respective organ donations as well as the closeness that developed between Tim and Emily before Tim's death made more poignant by Emily's unfamiliarity with Tim's life and objectives. The writer of the story has to be commended. Tim's story is hard to believe but he made this story plausible and inspiring. The writer was inspired by meeting a man, like the main character, who carried a heavy burden due to a tragic accident. He used this inspiration to write a fantastic story.

Despite the story's aesthetic qualities, numerous ethical issues kept running through my mind as I read. Seven Pounds is a great example of how the theoretical discipline of ethics leads to practical implications. As a way of getting to the ethical subtext of Seven Pounds, I will pose five questions instead of pointing out the ethical issues as i understand that these are common significant issues that affects our everyday living. They are questions that i believe deserves an answer to which answers may vary.

This lead to the first question on exactly how do you determine a good person? The first question arose because of a seemingly trivial conversation between Tim and George the hockey coach. While George and Tim prepare for George to receive Tim's kidney, George asks, "Why me?" Tim replies, "Because you are a good person. You may not know it but people are watching you." George is presented as a charitable person who uses his time to coach inner-city kids. Tim's conclusion that George is good is not in dispute here. Rather, Tim's justification for