cruiseThere’s not much I love more than a good ethical dilemma. They force you to balance the brutality of logic with our innate human emotions. So the question of whether it’s ethical to make a cruise ship port-of-call in Haiti while hundreds of thousands are suffering has kept me thinking off and on all week. (Article HERE.)

Here’s my take on it: It is really no more or less ethical than it was in the weeks before the earthquake. I think if a person could  justify a stop in Haiti during 2009, then the earthquake hasn’t changed the equation. Why would proximity to suffering change the ethics of a decision? One exception: If your location actually increased the suffering.  If you set up an all-you-can-eat buffet within sight of starving people, I’d call it unethical.

Whether it is ethical to be on a cruise ship while 50,000 people die every day from starvation and preventable water-borne diseases is a much more complex ethical question. (Just to show I’m not being a hypocrite, the same question can be asked when you take your kids to Disney World or purchase a plane ticket for summer travel to Spain.) But it seems a bit unfair to target a few cruise ship aficionados who are choosing to spend their money in Haiti and add the slightest bump to a terrible economy.

So you go, Carnival Cruise passengers! (Unless, of course, starvation makes the whole travel industry unethical, then…uh…you’re on your own with that one.)