The story, which can be found by clicking HERE, describes how after his wife's car submerged into water, a man was unable to save his son without risking his life AND the life of his wife, so he made the decision to save her instead (The UK Times' headline is VERY misleading, but I digress).
The story reminded me of a report I read while in college. The report discussed the differences in three cultures: Caucasians, Asians, and blacks (it did not differentiate between Korean, Chinese, Japanese, etc.). The writers conducted a survey which gave the respondents the following scenario:
Imagine that your home home caught fire this evening. Inside your home are your mother (or father), spouse, and one child. Imagine that they are all unable to save themselves and time permitted you to be able to save just one life, whose life would you choose? The researchers found it interesting that the overwhelmingly majority of the answers were split down racial lines. Caucasians chose their spouse, Asians chose their parent, and blacks chose their child (the respondents did not suggest why they chose the individual they did and you can draw your own conclusions from that).
No one would have want to see ANY of their family members suffer. Heck, most people ignore the thought of death so much they won't buy life insurance or set up a will or a trust ("Because if I don't think about it, it won't happen to me.")!
But let me ask you: If you were to ever face a gut wrenching scenario such as this, whose life would you spare?
CDA2
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wow. well, does it mean i'm a stereotypical black if i say my child? lol well, that's my answer. my child. loving all of them, in different ways, not wanting any one of them to suffer, i'd grab my child. why? well, my children are little people that i created. lives that i have been given charge over. it is my duty and honor to protect them to the ... See Moredeath. they haven't even begun to live as children. my mother, bless her, has lived, she's experienced, she gave me life. she did her job. my spouse, love him more than almost anything in this world, but he's a grown man. i would miss him dearly. i'd never forget about him. he'd live on in my heart and i'd honor him by continuing to raise our child.
ReplyDeletenow, here, throw in some gray area...some people might have conditions. like, is the child terminally ill? has the child been expressing deviant behavior and you've been secretly wishing you never gave birth to him/her anyway so here's your out. did your spouse give you a kidney and you feel like you owe them the chance to live with you? is your mother pregnant? so essentially you'd be saving two lives. (hey, it happens!)
i honestly don't think there is a right or wrong answer. no matter how you feel SOMEONE is gonna think you're the lowest life form and should be banished to some abyss for even daring to think the way you do. and to them, i say, please, jump headfirst into the flames. thanks.