I
love this concept, this idea, this way of being of doing no harm. But lets be
honest how often are we doing harm when we think we are doing good. I love quinoa,
its great, its nutty I can use it like rice for a different flavor, and its
whole wheat. Its good for me, but its not good for the farmers of it. Because of its recent growth in popularity
the price of it has shot up and now the people growing it can’t afford to eat
it. So in doing myself no harm, I am
harming others. But really what I
see from do no harm is rather do the least amount of harm possible. We are humans, we do harm its in our being. But
sometimes its doing the least amount of harm in order to do good, the third
rule. In supervised ministry, I get a lot of flack from my classmates about my
feeling on this. My professor this semester happens to agree with me that it’s
about harm reduction.
My
most recent encounter with this and one that I think about often is my internship at the food pantry. The
pantry has limits on how much each family size can pick, such as a family of 1
person can get six cans of soup, and a family of 5 people get 12 cans of soup.
The food pantry is meant to be supplemental to food stamps, other government benefits,
and to help you save money elsewhere (i.e. the money you don’t spend on food to
feed your family can go to help pay your mortgage so you don’t become
homeless). Now most of our clients are
so very thankful and do not try to buck the system. But there are a few who do.
So in doing the perhaps harming them in a small way by telling them they can
not take more soup then there allotment, I create good elsewhere by making sure
that there is soup for everyone who needs it.
But
likewise sometimes I do just cause harm even though I don’t mean it. I was training a new shopper (we are a client
choice pantry where it is set up like a grocery store and clients get to chose
there food from the category’s and within limits), and I was explaining the
meats and meals section. This is where you find spagetio-s and caned
meets.
“So
this is where caned chicken and stuff like that is. I guess that you might find
caned turkey here as well. I’ve never seen it though” I said.
“Its
good” says the client we are shopping with “you can do a lot with it”
I felt so stupid and that I had done a
great amount of harm. Showing my privilege in my lifetime of never having to
eat caned turkey, or caned any meat. But
in that moment I learned that the client was doing the least amount of harm to
me. She could have reacted a lot differently, but she was doing good. Taking
what could have been a very hurtful moment and making it into a teaching
moment.
