First things first

A few days ago, I attended a conference at which I met a Venezuelan currently in exile in the U.K.

This young man is passionate about politics and philosophy.

When I shared with him about some of the current debates in Canadian politics concerning bioethics, he was perplexed.

Essentially he expressed his perplexity as follows: My country is a mess. There is massive corruption, countless human rights violations, and many basic needs of citizens are unmet. We imagine that Canada is so much more advanced. Yet, you seem to be divided on the most fundamental questions.

Indeed, Canadians are divided about what it means to be a man, to be a woman, to be married, to be a person, to be alive.

Despite industrial development, material prosperity, and impressive longevity, we are still unsure about a lot of the basics.

It is revealing that someone from Venezuela can question our supposed advancement in this way.