Sunday, March 27, 2011

Would you risk your life to save another person's life?

I believe that it is possible to consider the worthiness of taking some risk in an attempt to save another person's life, dependent upon the circumstances and conditions of the situation.  However, as a person who loves life and is looking forward to many more years to come, I'd really have to challenge my integrity to arrive at an honest conclusion.

While, risking your own life to save another is heroic and noble; who is to truly say that one life is more valuable than another?  In other words, when hypothetically faced with such a question are respondents really supposed to feel guilty if they chose not to risk their own life to save someone else's?

I believe that even hypothetically it could be a tough decision to contemplate.

I also wanted to include the fact as a reminder that there are some professions in which human beings are faced with this hypothetical situation on an ongoing and regular basis in real life; such as:  fireman; bounty hunters; or soldiers.  I'd also like to point out how stressful it must be for both those individuals and their loved ones, always wondering if today is the day that this person may not be reunited with their loved ones while preserving this ability for someone else and their loves ones due to the act of risking their own life to save another's life falling under the scope of their elected profession, or, line of duty.

When considering this hypothetical situation as a reality (also, a reality outside of a chosen profession (where an individual made a conscious decision to enter in to such a risky, life-threatening career field) for a living and salary), what factors would figure in to the equation when determining an answer?

Additionally, would the answer to this hypothetical situation be a constant or a variable?

In other words, if a person's answer was, "yes", would this answer change if the person's life to be saved was a stranger?  Or, if the person's life to be saved was someone aged so much ... that it is probable to consider that their lifeline may soon expire anyway due to natural causes?  What if it was someone you detested or that person hated you?  What if the person was a loved one?

Lastly ... what if the person to be saved was staged as needing to be saved as part of an elaborate homicidal scheme concocted by a criminally insane person who just waited for someone with an unselfish heart to walk in to their evil trap to set them up just for the mere and sheer satisfaction of having that much control over a person's mind to manipulate the good-hearted person by means of deception in to selflessly risking and possibly losing their own life for what falsely appeared to be another human being on the verge of losing their life?  Do people so cruel even exist outside of the theatrical realm?  I'll leave that open for interpretation.

So ... just a few variables to consider before responding to the question.

Here are my final thoughts at this very moment ... after expressing and identifying just some of the possible variables in such a hypothetical situation, I believe that I would honestly have to say that short of determining how much of a percentage of a risk the situation was, I would have to place my own life at the highest place value, because if I didn't, who else would, and what about my loved ones and people who love me?

To conclude, the topic is not necessarily to evaluate right or wrong, selfish or not, but, rather to provoke critical thought and express and share your feelings on such a hypothetical matter with fellow bloggers.  Also there is going to be a part 2 to this blog to follow soon.

14 comments:

  1. Yes, I would. Mainly because I don't as much value in my life so I don't mind giving it away for people.

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  2. Hi, and thanks for the comment! :)

    I'm slightly confused and would like to ask you the following to assure myself that I am not misinterpreting your post ...

    is your answer because you care so much for the lives of others, or, is it because you care so little about your own?

    If it is the second one, hopefully, without being rude, I can't help but ask, why?

    Anyhow, I hope that you will follow or at least check back for the second part of this post as it presents a similar hypothetical situation but from a different perspective and I would be particularly interested in your response to that post as well.

    In closing, I'd like to say that whatever your logic, I commend you on your hypothetical decision to the hypothetical situation.

    I believe that some or many of the people that would answer, "yes" (hypothetically) possess the qualities and characteristics of heroic behavior, and, at the same time would like to interject that often times people possessing such traits (whatever the cause or motivator is) are equally deserving of placing at least a worthy value on their own lives as well. ; )

    Again, thank you for your response! :)

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  3. interesting thought. i wouldn't be able to give a direct answer with so many variable in play.

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  4. It would be a hard choice for sure. I think we all have an idea of what we would do in that situation, but when it comes down to it, we might not act the way we thought.

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  5. I'm not sure. It's easy to say what I'd do now but in the heat of the moment, I don't know. I'd like to think yes but I don't know. :x

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  6. There's no way I'd be able to honestly answer this question unless i was actually in the situation.

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  7. Yes, because we all die. Might as well die a hero.

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  8. I would but I would definitely want to come out alive, haha

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  9. before you love others you have to love yourself. so yeah I agree with you - id put myself first.

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    1. But that doesn't mean one will not put others before himself,love oneself before but not more than someone special,they are always before
      It's noble and heroic
      Think about the shoulders who die for the country
      Would you say the same about them?
      If they could die for so many people,we too could do for one or two people

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    2. Soldiers don't go to die, they are trained so that they have the highest chances to stay alive and complete the mission.
      So do firefighters, police, etc.

      They risk as much as they can, safely.
      That is what I would do, because if I can't help safely, maybe we all die.

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  10. yes, i will risk my life to save that person.

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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