Alexandra Rone Lang ’21, a Northwestern University philosophy major, won first prize in the 2020 Prize in Ethics Essay Contest presented by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, LRN Corporation and LRN Founder and Chairman Dov Seidman.
Lang’s winning essay is titled: ‘Any Fraction of Infinity’: Aging, Illness, and the Right to Continue. The essay explores the ethical and moral complexities and self-reflection that occur at the end of life through Lang’s experience providing support to an elderly patient in hospice.
“By writing a page of Emelia’s story, I hope to provide some shadow of the longevity she longed for, and a tribute to the strength and dignity of a woman who, irrespective of age and prognosis, had the courage to express her unapologetic renunciation of the eventuality of death,” says Lang.
The Prize in Ethics Essay Contest, established in 1989 by Professor Elie Wiesel and his wife, Marion Wiesel, is an annual competition that challenges college students to address the urgent and complex ethical issues that confront the modern world. Since its inception, thousands of young people have written essays for consideration. After Professor Wiesel’s death in 2016, The Elie Wiesel Foundation and LRN, a global ethics and compliance education and technology company, have continued the Prize in honor of Professor Wiesel’s legacy and memory. – The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity website
Related: LRN discusses Land’s essay