Grappling with the Gray #126: Whose best friend?

Can empathy be taken too far? If so, where's the line?

These are the questions that drive  the conversation when Jennifer Elder, Jeff Ikler, and Tomer Yogev join the ethics panel to Grapple with the Gray.

Here is our topic:

On Memorial Day, Delta Flight 694 from Detroit to Los Angeles diverted to Minneapolis to provide emergency medical care… not for a passenger, but for a passenger’s pet dog.

An airline spokesman told Newsweek that, "The safety of our customers and people comes before everything else at Delta. That's why flight 694 diverted to ensure a cabin pet that became ill received proper care."

The emergency landing delayed 181 passengers from reaching their destination by two-and-a-half-hours.

There’s no question that the life of a human being justifies inconveniencing even a few hundred paying passengers. But does the same calculus apply to animals? Would the airline have made the same call had the pet been a hamster, a lizard, or a canary?

Pet owners may agree that “dogs are people, too.” But does that make it so? Is there a danger that, by projecting too much humanity onto animals, we undermine the sanctity of human life as a foundational principle of civil society?

For years, the Great Apes Project has lobbied to accord full human rights to gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. Is this a noble effort or an ideological perversion? Does it naturally follow that one of its most prominent advocates, former Princeton bioethics professor Peter Singer, has also been cited as one of the most vocal supporters of euthanasia?

Is it insensitive to value the convenience of a planeful of people above the life of a beloved pet, or is it recognizing a more existential moral boundary?

Meet the panel:

Jennifer H. Elder, is a CPA and Certified Speaking Professional who helps leaders future-proof their businesses by making smart decisions and staying ethical.

Jeff Ikler is a certified executive career coach. He is the director of Quetico Executive Career and Personal Leadership Coaching, co-host of the Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity podcast, and author of the weekly Substack, "Walking in the Woods."

Tomer Yogev, is an executive coach and Co-Creator of the Big Joy Theory, a transformative movement that begins with each person stepping into their own light, despite the shadows and storms.