COMM 280 (Ethics in Communications) - Ethical Perspectives in Communication

Introduction

Various ethical perspectives are leveraged when determining a course of action or deciding on what and how to communicate. Below are three perspectives, along with explanations, contexts, major tenants and critiques of the perspective.

Virtue Ethics of Aristotle

The first perspective this paper will review is Aristotle’s virtue ethics. Aristotle was a Hellenistic philosopher who taught his students philosophy and who wrote a number of treatises on ethics. His virtue ethics were written in the context of a philosophical dialogue in searching for and defining the Good. In this dialogue, Aristotle contends there is a purpose or aim for the individual and consequently his ethical stance is placed in a teleological perspective. He claims that everyone seeks happiness or to live well (Kraut, 2022) and this is the ultimate aim and Good for all people. In other words, people pursue happiness or living well for its own sake and not for some other aim or purpose.

The major tenets of virtue ethics are based on the ancient Hellenistic premise that humans (and all organisms and things) have a proper function (CrashCourse, 2016). Part of the proper function of humans is to use reason and to develop the proper character traits in order to reach one’s full potential. To that end, virtue ethics elaborate on the moral characteristics a human should have, ensuring they demonstrate the right disposition (neither too much, nor too little). For example, the virtue of courage is the ability to avoid acting the coward (too little courage) and to evade being rash (too much courage) (Kraut, 2022). Furthermore, each unique circumstance and context will demand the proper scale of a particular virtue.

Modern philosophers, such as Adorno question the premise of Aristotle’s aim at the Good. Whyman (2017) reviews Adorno’s critique of Aristotle and contends one of the main criticisms is the idea that our conception of the Good is warped by the world in which we live and therefore we cannot objectively point to a human’s aim. Stated differently, Aristotle’s theory fails to appreciate a significant portion of human existence and suffering. Skeptically speaking, perhaps the Good is in fact to suffer pain and misery.

Johnston (2020) provides a couple examples of virtue ethics in communication in the arena of business. Before demonstrating how this perspective is used, he distinguishes character ethics from action-based ethics. “[A]ction-based ethics asks whether a particular action is ethical, whereas agent-based ethics focuses on the individual agent’s character and motivations and asks whether they are virtuous” (2020). One way to manage and communicate via virtue ethics is to enable a “capabilities approach” (2020), whereby employees are expected to exhibit moral character in their actions and communications. Perhaps a counter example of virtue ethics would be the lack of moral characteristics demonstrated by Enron’s management and how the collapse of that business was due to lack of morals and accountability.

Utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill

The second perspective is Utilitarianism as conceived by John Stuart Mill as well as others who have elaborated on this ethical theory. Early forerunners to Mill’s ideas include many British philosophers such as Shaftesbury, Hutcheson and Hume (Driver, 2009). While these philosophers advanced a strong theological sense, they nonetheless carried the core belief that ethical behavior should promote the greatest happiness or utility for the greatest number of people. Under this theistic, moral system, what is good for the common or general community, is good for the individual, and in turn encourages piety to God.

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill sought “legal and social reform” (2009) and promoted the ideas of their philosophical forebearers by arguing all humans are subject to pleasure and pain, and consequently, correct actions should be based on promoting pleasure and minimizing pain. Bentham laid a strong foundation from which Mill would fine-tune higher pleasures above “simple-minded” ones (2009) as well as distinguish moral actions between humans and other beings such as animals.

Mill’s Utilitarianism, which telos or aim seeks the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of people, contained a number of considerations when seeking to find the highest utility of moral action. Driver (2009) notes several ways of attempting to evaluate the utility of moral action, including intensity, duration, assuredness, proximity, consequentiality, and purity. Furthermore, Mill places a premium on rational pleasure over physical pleasure.

In the list of considerations for determining the value of utility is consequentiality. This is perhaps the one aspect of Utilitarianism that is criticized the most (West, 2006). More precisely, how can anyone foresee far enough into the future and determine the utility of an action or choice in order to evaluate if the present choice will be a net positive or not? Related to this critique are the differing levels of individuals’ welfare. If Utilitarianism is to promote the greatest good for the individual, and the net good of all individuals is the aim, how is one able to compare the degree of benefit of a choice between two people? Between untangling “causal ramifications” and determining value judgements of differing individuals, calculating the greatest utility of a choice is “tricky and imprecise at best” (2006, p. 203). 

Perhaps a good example of Utilitarianism being used in a communication ethic, which also demonstrates the critique of the ethic, is what took place during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Herron and Manuel (2022) explain the many considerations the United States government had to contemplate when deciding on and communicating policy to the American public. Torn between shutting the economy down, which would have significant consequences, and allowing the virus to run its course, most officials decided on the former. They rationalized that in the longer term, it would be better to snuff out the virus by implementing lockdowns and take the economic hit. However, some (Pachauri & Pachauri, 2023) have noted that too many lives were lost prematurely, not because of the virus, but because of lockdown policies. The diverging analyses underscore the significant difficulty of assessing the consequentiality of Utilitarian ethics.

John Rawls Theory of Justice

The last ethical perspective of this essay is John Rawl’s theory of justice, which was advanced as a response to the widely adopted view of Utilitarianism. As discussed in the previous section, one of the challenges of Utilitarianism is that individuals’ welfare differ from person to person. John Rawls recognized this and further observed the “significant political and economic inequalities” found in society (Wenar, 2008). Acknowledging the basic structures of society and that significant obstacles inhibit people from leaving and changing societies, Rawls argued for a form of justice based on the idea that society is both able and willing to support the basic needs of all its people, and that its citizens ought to cooperate to equally distribute burdens and benefits. To this end, his deontological perspective is based on two principles. First, individuals have a claim to basic and equal liberties. Second, a society ought to require its citizens have a fair and equal opportunity at jobs, positions and offices and that when a society is faced with choices, the one that presents “the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged members” should be the one implemented (2008). One premise of the second principle is that all individuals are capable of contributing to society and thus have something to offer in order for society to distribute goods.

To implement these principles, Rawls asks people to apply a veil of ignorance (BBC Radio 4, 2015). In this thought experiment, when deciding on distribution, people ought to place themselves in a position where they do not know what their lot in life will be. While a rich man might opt for lower taxes, a disadvantaged minority might opt for redistribution of wealth through higher taxes on the rich. But if both these individuals were to make a choice behind a veil of ignorance, they would decide on a course of action that would benefit the least advantaged.

Perhaps the greatest weakness and criticism of Rawls’ theory is the premise of his second principle. First, it potentially violates personal liberties by demanding a social contract be enforced on people who contribute to society. Audard (2007) further notes this social contract “interferes with legitimate transactions among self-interested individuals” (p. 277). In this same work, the author notes others’ objections to Rawls by attacking his underlying premise: all members of a society are able to contribute. If a large portion of society is physically or mentally unable to create goods, then much of his theory falls apart.

John Rawls’s theory of justice can be quite abstract and difficult to implement. However, there appears to be some level of analysis in how his ideas could be put into practice in the way people become eligible for Medicaid. Coursen (2007) investigated how Medicaid policies were written in various states and then assessed these guidelines to determine if they met the conditions for Rawls’s theory of justice. The dissertation found that Medicaid can be distributed fairly if the administrators of the policies believed that equity in health is a moral imperative and if they are willing to enforce that perspective.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this review explained three ethical perspectives: virtue ethics, Utilitarianism and Rawls’s theory of justice. It provided some context in which the framework was created, and it elaborated the major tenants of the perspective. Lastly, it provided an example of the framework in use. 

References

Audard, C. (2007). John Rawls. Acumen Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315712109

BBC Radio 4. (2015). The Veil Of Ignorance [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8GDEaJtbq4 

Coursen, C. C. (2007). Theory to practice: The application of John Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness to Medicaid. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

CrashCourse. (2016). Aristotle & virtue theory: crash course philosophy #38. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvtOWEXDIQ

Driver, J. (2009, March 27). The History of Utilitarianism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/

Herron, T. L., & Manuel, T. (2022). Ethics of U.S. government policy responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic: A utilitarianism perspective. Business and Society Review (1974), 127(S1), 343–367. https://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12259

Johnston, J. (2020). Where Public Interest, Virtue Ethics and Pragmatic Sociology Meet: Modelling a Socially Progressive Approach for Communication. Westminster Papers in Communication & Culture, 15(2), 79–94. https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.355

Kraut, R. (2022). Aristotle’s Ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/

Pachauri, S., & Pachauri, A. (2023). Global Perspectives of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health, Education, and Role of Media (1st ed. 2023.). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1106-6

Wenar, L. (2008, March 25). John Rawls. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/

West, H. R. (2006). The Blackwell guide to Mill’s Utilitarianism (1st ed.). Blackwell Pub.

Whyman, T. (2017). Adorno’s Aristotle Critique and Ethical Naturalism. European Journal of Philosophy, 25(4), 1208–1227. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12243

On Abandonment

"Nothing veils a star" (Aurelius, book 11, chapter 27) and we too, should confront existence with no intermediary. Indeed, we are "thrown into existence" (Aho, 2023) and in that existence, we immediately are encumbered with veils in the forms of pre-conceived meaning, religious and philosophical shackles, genetic predispositions, cultural responsibilities and expected duties. Many of these veils were placed there by our parents. Some of us willingly accepted the veils, while others of us have been figuring out ways to cast them off in order to see existence clearly and with our own eyes. Fortunately, for some, the beginning of the un-veiling takes place in the form of abandonment.

Abandonment can take a couple of forms. Whereas an individual relied on some notion for guidance, and that concept or belief failed to prove accurate or useful, then that person experiences abandonment in the form of broken trust. The other form of abandonment would be pure and simple subtraction of an idea, a person or a belief. Sometimes a single event of abandonment may fit both descriptions.

Abandonment may trigger fear and anxiety, or perhaps instill confidence. Regardless, the opportunity for growth and resilience are present with each abandonment, in that the definition and clarity of existence moves from low-fidelity to a higher fidelity until one can, eventually, comprehend existence as it is.

When Nietzsche declared the death of God, he was observing what had already transpired in the hearts of men for quite some time - that "God may have been an illusion, but ... a necessary illusion" (Gravil & Addis, 2007, p. 21). While God supplied aim, values, emotional relief and fortitude and even a future, the lived experience of man could not be fully supported by those dogmas. What he was taught on Sunday did not fully equip him on Monday, Tuesday, or any other day of the week. God abandoned man. Truthfully, however, all along, God was a creation of man and man abandoned that creation. Even for the Christian Kierkegaard, God could not be objectively ascertained (2007). Therefore, while some men may proclaim God is alive and well, he nonetheless must admit that his experience is one of faith and, at best, a belief, else eight billion people might agree on the definition and objectivity of God like they agree the sun shines.

All people must be abandoned or experienced abandonment. If they have the will to live and exist, each abandonment yields a stronger, sharper existence. While some abandonments are temporary, and others are permanent, with each successive sense of isolation, the individual is forced to use his own devices or seek help from others in his sphere - he must swim, or sink. His use of his rational thinking and volition (what is 'up to him') is what he must rely on if he is going to swim.

Below are a few reflections of milestone-abandonments, from my life, and how I dealt with each one.

I was seemingly fortunate in my childhood to avoid abandonments. Family, community, school, church and God were all relatively stable aspects of my life. My parents did not divorce, as did many of my friends' parents in the early 1980s and 1990s. There were no attacks on my religion or religion in general for that matter. My friends and I attended church on Sundays, went to school and played sports during the week, achieved our Scout badges and awards, served our community, and generally we got along and were decent kids. I felt secure in many aspects.

Certainly with visual reminders like the image to the side (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2023), my confidence in some mental and moral foundation rested in Christ. Entwined in that mental paradigm was family and community.

But despite religious reassurances, I still suffered temporary, local abandonments. Being the youngest of seven children, my older siblings all left for college while I was still in public school. Some of the older ones would come home to visit at times, and when the hour arrived for them to drive back to college, I felt an immense sense of abandonment. To this day, I feel the sting of tears in my eyes and the pain in my gut and heart as I sat on the porch and watched them pull out of the driveway, down the street and out of sight.

Leaving the nest of home to go to college and a church mission to Guatemala felt like a deeper abandonment. The structure of church and school and being with friends and like-minded people softened the blow, but despite these lifelines, the fear and anxiety of saying goodbye, first to my parents after they dropped me off at the MTC, and then later saying goodbye to my brother and sister at the San Francisco airport, en route to Guatemala City, brought a harsh new reality of feeling alone.

3000 miles away from home and 6000 miles away from my parents (who were in Prague), living in the lush highland jungles of Guatemala brough a fresh new realization of abandonment. My courage was fortified not only in Christ, but also by the words of the prophets in the scriptures and the leaders in the Mormon church, both local and global. More experienced missionaries also were a succor to my homesickness and longing for old comforts. At that time, I had not known of Seneca's toti se inserens mundo (Seneca, 2024, Letter 66) but I certainly tossed myself into the work and service in front of me. In fact, early on, while living in Zona 18 in Pinares del Norte, I was so overcome with homesickness, I took all reminders, photos and letters of my family and stuffed them in the bottom of a suitcase and vowed to never look at them until I got over these emotions. My focus and attention, directed at learning Spanish, talking to people and serving others, proved to be the solution for overcoming the sense of isolation and abandonment. And while the spiritual practices of prayer and reading scripture were helpful, it was attending to the matters at present which ultimately resolved the fear and anxiety.

If homesickness weren't enough, I also had to manage being ill in a foreign country. I don't know what it was, but a doctor informed me that I contracted a virus. Some 29 years later, all I remember is being very sick and having the worse migraine in my life. Someone made the decision to send me to a hospital and I ended up spending a night being cared for. The next day, I was released to the care of other missionaries who kept an eye on me while I made a full recovery. During that time, I met Moses Vargas, to whom I disclosed my homesickness and loneliness.  He helped me understand I was not alone and that I lived and worked and existed alongside several hundred missionaries in Guatemala. When I said my prayers at 6am, I was praying with all the other missionaries and that thought brought me comfort. It was something more real and tangible than the comfort the Holy Ghost or Christ could provide.

One good thing about abandonment is that it reveals how humans play games with humans in the name of God. When I threw myself into the work, or when Moses Vargas and others consoled me, people would reason that it was the Holy Ghost and God and Jesus who inspired me or those 'other people' to bring me comfort and support. Looking back on this, I realize they were simply imbuing social ethics with a smattering of divinity.

When a leader of the church takes credit for other people's choices and deeds in the name of God, they do so in an attempt to garner more power for the church, not necessarily for God. A relevant example of this is from Uchtdorf (2019) wherein he makes the argument that when people perform acts of kindness, they are doing so in the name of God, and more specifically the church. However, the logic does not work both ways. If the same person (e.g. a missionary or member of the church) provides service to others, the church will attempt to take the credit, but if that same person does something dishonorable in the eyes of the church (e.g. use their tithing funds to give to a soup kitchen rather than to the church), the church will deem this act as not in the name of God and may even discipline the member (e.g. excommunication). The key message from the church to the individual is this: "obey and we will take the credit and uphold you the best we can, but dissent or misalign, we disavow you and you are on your own."

This key principal, even if unspoken, is discerned more acutely after having served a mission for the church. There is significant management and stewardship of a young man or woman for the first 20 or so years of their life. There are checkpoints, interviews, and to-do items in order to keep the person on the right track. But after those first 20 or so years, you are left to your own devices to keep the program going. As long as you follow the program after serving a mission (getting married, holding callings, having kids and repeating the cycle), you will fall under the good graces of the church. But if you don't follow the program or even fit the mold of a 'good' member, you are abandoned since your usefulness to the church is no longer valuable.

For me, in 1997, I realized I was a tool for the church. My whole life had been a checklist with regular interviews to ensure I was checking off all the boxes. And then when I returned home from my mission to Guatemala, it all went silent; I was abandoned and truly left to my own devices. When you've been told how to think and how to live the first 21 years of your life and when it all goes silent, you feel lost and disoriented.

I stayed true to the program, for the most part. I dated, eventually married, and my wife and I began a family. We accepted church callings and did all the enduring to the end we could muster. Children were born, babies were blessed, family home evenings were held, church attendance was regular like a metronome. During the week, my wife raised and cared for our children, while I commuted to work in the morning, worked all day, and commuted in the evening. Dinner, playtime, reading books, watching movies, playing games, cleaning up, bed time and then repeat. If only I had read Camus early in life, perhaps I would have been better prepared for what was coming.

In his Myth of Sisyphus, Camus observes, "we get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking" (1979). A bit later in the book he describes what I eventually would feel after 10 years of living the Mormon program. "Rising, streetcar, four hours in the office or the factory, meal, streetcar, four hours of work, meal, sleep, and Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday according to the same rhythm - this path is easily followed most of the time. But one day the 'why' arises and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement" (1979). For me the 'why' was eternal life with my family and before that, I was yearning for confirmation or refinement or even sanctification. But there was no whiff of this to be found. The weariness became almost unbearable and the platitudes Mormonism offered did not outweigh the church's never-ending demands for more time, more money, more of my soul, more sacrifice on my part only for the benefit of the church. In a time when I needed support and energy or even relief, I only ever heard calls for more sacrifice. I felt abandoned. Confronted with metaphysical abandonment, I perceived that my choices were limited and I could not see any resolution other than death.

I began seeing a therapist in May 2014. She helped me see that I was enough - that existing and being there for my wife and kids and others was sufficient. And while she helped me correct some faulty value judgements I had been making, I recognized the space in which I could simply exist. I finally existed before landing on essence. Between 2014 and 2015, I deconstructed my beliefs and eventually I abandoned Mormonism, at least in my heart and mind. Never have I grown so much, emotionally, philosophically, mentally, than in those years of truly discovering myself and what my values were. I finally could choose my essence, rather than conform to what someone else decided for me.

By 2019, my wife and kids were also "out" of the church. The last time we attended services was December 2018. On a Monday in January 2019, the lay leader (bishop) came to our home, unannounced, and correctly claimed that we were less than honest about our temple recommend responses and he demanded we surrender recommends to him. This was tantamount to a slap in the face and an abject judgment of what our church thought of us after all the sacrifices in time and money we gave it. We were abandoned by our church. There were no questions about how we got to that point and there were no offers of succor to bring us back to the 'right' path. We had been fully abandoned and we could not be happier.

2020 brought a new kind of abandonment. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced isolation policies which effectively brought a type of abandonment many had never experienced before. The only people we could come in contact with were our families, and friends and neighbors at a safe distance. The days seemed long as we sat by our computers, working remotely, and watched the evening news reports of the thousands of deaths from people who succumbed to the virus as well as people who died because of isolation polices (e.g lack of medical care). Politicians and medical experts played on our fears. Panic spread as people tried to hoard supplies and many resources became scarce.

Working for an oil and gas company during the pandemic was surreal, especially when the price of oil inverted (Gaffen, 2022). Radical changes and ruthless prioritization became the norm. Many outsourcing and offshoring projects, which had only been planned for in the coming years, became a rough-shod reality. Expats living in the United States were quickly abandoned by the corporation and were hurriedly repatriated with little to no concern for safety protocols for them or their families. Normal ranking of employees, in which a very small percentage are put on improvement plans, were flipped to become tools for cutting workforce. People who had been planning to retire in an organized fashion were shamelessly forced to quit or retire early.

When things began to somewhat stabilize in late 2021 and into 2022, those who remained with the company had to begin picking up the pieces. After losing so many people, help was hard to find. Having endured multiple rounds of complaints from his staff, one manager reportedly told his group of 300 employees "no one is coming to rescue us; we have to save ourselves." I can think of no better existentialist motto than that. While some have the luxury of creating layers of security, friends, people, processes and tools around them like a cocoon, eventually all of that gets stripped away and the individual is abandoned and he realizes no one is going to live his life for him - no one is going to provide all the answers - he is on his own, so he might as well accept it and begin rescuing himself.

Toward the end of 2022, nearly two years ago from the time of this writing, my mother died and abandoned me. To be fair, I had mostly abandoned her in my mind, but not in my heart. I loved her dearly and often remember fondly my times, memories and experiences with her. Eventually I came to see her as not only my mother, but simply another human, with flaws, insecurities, her own narrative and philosophy for life. And while it was more emotional than I had expected, her passing to me brought a new-found fortitude and love for life. As I recalled her life through my perspective, I realized how much light she gave me. Whether she intended it or not, the fact remains that I have instilled in me an unending source of motivation to seek the sunny side of life because of how she raised me. A mere glance at the sun, and feeling the rays on my face, reminds me of her. I don't know if I would have had this blessing if she had not abandoned me when she died. She died November 10, 2022 and the sun still shines.

My father still lives at the time of this writing, but he inches toward his own death. After my mother passed away, my father seemed to have a tough time adjusting. On one hand, he seemed to have a new lease in life and claimed he would live to 140 years old and even verbalized aspirations of going back to college to pursues a masters degree in psychology after he heard a speech by a trained psychologist. His need for companionship endured after mother's death and every attractive woman he met, regardless of age, became the one he was going to marry. He dominated in cornhole tournaments and he loved to sing for all the other residents in the assisted living home. He spent his days visiting and trying to inspire the remaining members of The Greatest Generation. He has always sought a way to be useful and to help others. This undying zest for life has been an inspiration to me. While amusing, his fight to continue to live and exist even to the age of 140, teaches me to also fight for meaning and existence. This passion for life is even more extraordinary knowing that his father psychologically abandoned him through anger and lack of conveying love and care to my father. Alas, my father, too, will pass; life will abandon him and when that day comes, I'll be an orphan and know that my own death will someday arrive.

All experience abandonment, even the Christian god Jesus. As Camus (1956) writes in The Rebel, even the son of God experienced the most exquisite abandonment. Believing he was solving two of mankind's greatest problems, evil and death, after he hung on the cross in agony and in utter despair, Christ came to conclude that all are abandoned no matter the divinity, luxury or privilege. Hence he gut-wrenchingly yells out the lama sabactani (see Matthew 27) and is awestruck at his total and complete isolation. Camus sardonically notes Christ's "agony would have been mild if it had been alleviated by hopes of eternity" (1956). When I read this passage a few weeks ago, it struck my like a lightening bolt. I imagined Jesus experiencing an unexpected and panicked brush with reality. After having believed his own message for over 30 years, he came to realize that he too would suffer the same fate that billions before and after him experienced. He was not who he claimed to be. No one is immune from abandonment.

Since we are all abandoned, we must all stand on our own. No one is going to fully live your life for you. You must seek out your own meaning and purpose, especially when you come to find out that no one knows what this absurd existence really means. If you come from GenX, like me, you will probably never forget the message from Dead Poet's Society (Wier, 1989): carpe diem! Seize control of your life! Make your own meaning! Exist since no one else will nor can exist for you.

In conclusion, I leave this thought and quote which conveys the idea of: no one has found an instruction manual for life and you're on your own.

The problem for Kierkegaard is entwined with our fundamental abandonment in freedom. Man is a free project: which is to say that there is no ‘world-historical’ source of instruction and no pellucid God-ward imperative. In what concerns us most deeply we are thrown back on our own decision. The speculative reason says, Kierkegaard, cannot help us in the matter of existence, for to speculative reason, existence ‘is a matter of infinite indifference’. Furthermore, I am utterly alone in my plight (Gravil & Addis, 2007, p. 47).

References

Aho, K. (2023, January 6). Existentialism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/

Aurelius, M. (2021). Meditations (R. Waterfield, Trans.). Basic Books.

Camus, A. (1956). The rebel : an essay on man in revolt (A. Bower, Trans.). Alfred A. Knopf.

Camus, A. (1979). The Myth of Sisyphus (J. O’Brien, Trans.). Penguin Books. (Original work published 1955)

Gaffen, D. (2022, February 24). Analysis: Oil’s journey from worthless in the pandemic to $100 a barrel. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oils-journey-worthless-pandemic-100-barrel-2022-02-24/

Gravil, R., & Addis, M. (2007). Existentialism (1st ed.). Humanities-Ebooks, LLP.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2023). You Are Never Alone. Churchofjesuschrist.org. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/image/mormonad-you-are-never-alone-4a54532?lang=eng

Seneca. (2024).  Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales. Uchicago.edu. https://artflsrv03.uchicago.edu/philologic4/Latin/navigate/129/7/4/

Uchtdorf, D. F. (2019). “You Are My Hands.” Churchofjesuschrist.org. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/04/you-are-my-hands?lang=eng#p1

Weir, P. (Director). (1989). Dead poets society [Film]. Touchstone Pictures.