Biography of Lena Maria Klingvall Background: Lena Maria Klingvall, from Jonkoping, Sweden, was 20 years old when she became known to the Swedish TV-viewers through the documentary called ‘Goal in Sight’. Lena Maria was born in 1968 without arms and with only one healthy leg while the other one is half developed. She has to walk with an artificial leg and the cause of her disability is unknown. Lena Maria learnt how to swim when she was only three years old. At the age of eighteen, she entered the National Swedish Games where she was granted a place in the national team.
At the same year, she took two gold medals and set two world records in the World Championship. The highlight of her swimming career was the Paralympic Games 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. From 1987 to 1991 Lena Maria studied at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Since her examination she has been touring all over the world such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Through her around 60 tours in Asia with concerts, TV, radio and media and around 50 CDs and movies she has attracted attention. Her song at the Opening Ceremony at the Paralympic Games in Nagano was truly appreciated.
Lena Maria has been an artist in the Mouth and Foot Painting Artist Association since 1990. She is also engaged in different occasions to talk about humandignity, identity and life quality. In 1996 Lena Maria wrote a book about her life called ‘Foot-Notes’. The book is translated and published in 14 different languages. Lena Maria has also written a second book called ‘Happy Days’. During spring in 2005, Lena Maria received an Honorary Citizenship of Taiwan and also the ‘Artur Erikson’ scholarship. In January 2008 Lena Maria received the H. M. The King’s Medal from H. M.
King Carl XVI Gustaf with the words: ‘For prominent accomplishment as an artist and athlete and as a model for people with disabilities in Sweden and abroad. ’ 2009 Lena Maria held a speech at TED. com where other speakers like Bill Gates and Al Gore took part. Objective: * To introduce the background of Lena Maria and the inspiration that she brings to all of us. * To emphasize the importance of being a herald of optimism and encourage ourselves or others to live a happy life in spite of obstacles. * To provide protection to the handicappers, society shouldn’t ignore them as veryone is treated in the same way. * To inform the public about the value of life of each person. Human beings should appreciate what they have and do not give up easily no matter what difficulties they faced. Storyline: EMCC producing team came far away from China to Stockholm, Sweden to hold an interview with Lena Maria Klingvall and ask her the reason why she is happy. This interview was recorded under Gospel Profiles. Lena Maria Klingvall is a famous singer and world record-breaking swimmer. She was born without arms, and with one of her legs severely deformed.
This interview was about the story of Lena Maria Klingvall and the reason how she could live happily and successfully. The weather in Stockholm by that time is extremely low with -6 degrees. However Lena Maria still welcome them with friendly smile and reporters felt touched watching Lena Maria’s happy smile and kindly reception. During the shooting of film, the producing team had found out a lot of incredible things about Lena Maria. Lena Maria was born as a handicapped child, she could have blaming or giving up, but instead she has maintained a positive, courageous, and upbeat attitude.
Even in her baby and early childhood photos, we can see that she radiates happiness. Lena Maria could handle a lot of things by herself without asking for any help. She could drive in her reconstructed car, wear on seatbelt, clean her home, takes care of the laundry and other practical things. There is no difference between her and others. Her self-confident and optimism should be learned by the public. The producing team had also paid a visit to Lena Maria’s parents. We could see that Lena Maria has a very supportive family. Her dad said after she was born, “Arms or no arms, she needs a home anyways! They made every effort to give her a normal life and help her to be independent. Therefore, Lena Maria’s parents are the most important figures in her life. Lena Maria said her faith has given her a good self-esteem and the realization that God created her and loves her more than any person can do gives her much comfort, strength and joy. In Sweden she had done a lot of church concerts and sang songs that describe how she had experienced God’s love and supportive in her life. On Lena Maria’s concert tours in Asia she also sang some gospel songs but her repertoire is wider there. Audience analyst: The main character in this video: Lena Maria Klingvall, Lena Maria’s parents, reporters * Medium: You Tube. com * Target audience for this video: All human beings especially handicappers and those who are easily desperate in obstacles and hardships * Gender: Both male and female * Occupation: All types of occupation Value analyst: Moral Theory| Moral Action| Moral Reason| Moral Evaluation| Religious morality| Lena Maria had done a lot of church concerts in Sweden and also performed gospel songs on her concert tours in Asia. | Lena Maria believes God has given her a good self-esteem and loves her more than any person can do.
This encourages her to be confident and happy. | Lena Maria shows a vibrant faith in God. She is very regardful and she believes that God makes no mistakes on her disability, and that is a part of God’s special plan for her life. | Personality virtue| Lena Maria was born as a handicapped child but she never gives up or blamed anyone for her disability. | Lena Maria behaved optimistically due to her disability because she believed that everyone has his or her own value. | Lena Maria shows a good individual characteristic. She is able to determine how to behave due to her disability on her life. Personal Ethical egoism| Lena Maria took part in various sports and artistic activities. For example, she represented her own country and broke the world record in Seoul Paralympic Games 1988. | Lena Maria took part in sports due to her self-interest and she never thought that her disability could stop her from doing anything. | It’s hardly to see handicappers like Lena Maria who could be so confident and tried so hard to archieve what she wants. She had shown a personal ethical egoism, because she ought to act in her self-interest, but that make no claims about everyone else ought to do so. Social morality| Lena Maria had written two books which are Footnotes and Happy Days about her story. | This is to encourage human beings should never give up whenever faced difficulties and obstacles. | Lena Maria’s positive-thinking, self-confidence and independence would inspire the public to live a happy life in spite of obstacles. | Existentialism| Lena Maria’s parents put their biggest effort to take care of their daughter and refused to adopt doctor’s opinion to send her to welfare organization. | This is because Lena Maria is their wn daughter and they wanted to grow her by their own effort and give her a lovely home. | Lena Maria’s parents accept the existence of their handicapped daughter and insist on taking care of Lena Maria by their own. They take responsibility for their own actions and decisions by support and love her. Discussion: Moral theories which have applied in the biography of Lena Maria Klingvall are religious morality, personality virtue, personal ethical egoism, social morality and existentialism.
Firstly, religious morality refers to the faith and belief of someone in a spiritual being such as God and could classify into three categories which are paganism, racial and revealed. It has educational advantages for it emphasizes self-improvement. Besides, it sets realistic goals based on love and kindness, more concerned with purifying and elevating mankind. Religious morality, because of the nature of the relationship between God and man, is predicated on obligations. An essential ingredient of most religions, are claims regarding the existence of supernatural beings and events.
These claims are beliefs based on faith rather than knowledge, that is, they lack an essential element of epistemological validity – proof. However, religions have further difficult problems when evaluated in reference to the most important universal principle of honesty. When those people expounding the doctrines of religions refer to these claims as “truth”, it is difficult to understand how they are not guilty of at best, intellectual dishonesty. Individual believers of course, cannot be blamed for stating what they genuinely believe to be true.
In this context, a fundamental flaw in the application of religious morality is that it cannot be universal, as different religions define different lawaspect of morality. On the other hand, individual personality virtue focuses more on the individual, and their characteristics, as opposed to just looking at an action that has been carried out. It avoids the problem of act-centred normative theories with their emphasis on either ends or means and there are no set moral rules that have to be applied in a moral dilemma. The individual will be seen to ave done the right thing as long as they do something seen as virtuous in that circumstance. According to Aristotle, everyone start by doing acts that are objectively virtuous without any knowledge. As we practice these acts, we come realize this particular virtue is good or not. This able to help us to determine how to behave and act in certain way. In addition, an individual’s personality virtues are operational. This is not only taken place internally but also externally since others might follow what you have done.
Individual personality virtue is important because it may lead a person to succeed in the future. One of the problems is that people will always think that skill is more important than personality virtue. However we have to notice that skill only used for specific activities. Besides, individual personality virtue lacks of absolute moral rules which can give clear guidance on how to act in specific circumstances. But, the important question in virtue ethics as to what kind of person one ought to be, which may be answered differently depending on the ethos, can still give real direction and purpose to people.
In addition, personal ethical egoism state that a person ought to act in their self-interest, but no claim about what everyone else ought to. According to egoists, with our capitalist economy, it encourages individual freedom and responsibility and fits in best. While the problem with this form is that it applies only to one individual and cannot be laid down for humanity in general because to do so probably would not be in the egoist’s self-interest. It means this might cause other people’s anger and unsatisfied towards our self-interest. Besides, personal ethical egoism offers no consistent method of resolving conflicts of self-interests.
Since we do not live in isolated, self-sufficient communities but rather in increasingly crowded communities where social, economic, and moral interdependence are facts of life and where self-interests conflict constantly and somehow must be compromised. Furthermore, social morality which concerns human beings in relation with others encompasses social taboos to ensure social harmony. It is the most important aspect of morality and can be seen from religious aspects such as Buddhists are advised not to be extreme in life and should also behave virtuously.
Moreover, it identifies situations so that each person wards off self-interest to strengthen a system of behaviour that brings benefit to self as well as to other people. Social morality also serves to resolve conflict in the society by giving justifications that are acceptable to the public as bases for action. This theory also pays special attention to the interests and benefits of society, not the interests of individuals. However, a society which reined by regulations that restrict the freedom of members of the society will result in a dogmatic and authoritative situation.
For instance, some societal regulations prohibit the public from criticising moral values in the regulations that have been implemented. This reduces the autonomy of members of the society and increases the authority of those in power. Another problem is that when the society has different laws, regulations, customs, and moral values, morality relativism will occur in misunderstanding, conflict and social tension. Many instances of communal unrest, social crisis, and war between countries have taken place because of differences in ideology and belief between two parties.
