I think her point was that you made that choice. It was entirely optional.
I think the OP was looking for something different.
Thank you.
For myself, certainly my daughers and most definitely my granddaughter.
As a Army Veteran I certainly would not willing die for anything. Putting myself in harm’s way but hoping to get out of it.
I’d never willingly die for anyone. But that is different than what I’d risk my life for.
So, while I’d not take the place of a hostage, I’d certainly attempt to take down the hostage taker.
A great man once said “If you don’t live for something, you’ll die for nothing”. Just sayin’.
I am willing to die for my beliefs, but I would never be willing to kill for them.
Seriously, I have blundered into several bad situations over the years and frankly, the decision was not one I contemplated…I simply acted and became rubbery only after I realized how close I had come. Even small guns look amazingly huge when encountered in the wild. I have had the luck of the foolish.
I am willing to argue, yell shake a fist, and act indignant over an idea,. But to kill for it? No. If I were willing, that means someone else has the same right to try and kill me for his idea or belief. Besides, if the belief can’t stand on its own merits, to hell with it. To die for it? No. Patton said something that sort of covers it, with his “nobody ever won a war by dying for his country…” speech in the movie. It’s the same basic concept.
From your example, it seems what you should have learned is “it’s surprising what you can’t do when you have to.”
This is ‘what would you die for?’ *not *‘what would you kill for?’
I think the most honest answer came from Gustav:
Not saying I agree, but it strikes a chord, n’est-ce pas? I guess the heart of the question is, ‘could you give your life for another?’
Anyone, just because they are human, and you have the chance to save a life.
Gustav, you are a selfish, honest beast.
There’s nothing that I’d die for. But I’d risk dying for immediate family and close friends. As to the actual amount of risk I’d be willing to endure, well, I’m not sure atm.
I dunno about the whole family tree thing, but trading your life for a single other person is zero-sum. You haven’t saved a life; you’ve traded a life. Now if you saved two or more people that’d be different, but the way you’re saying it all you’re doing is devaluing the self.
Myself, I’d only risk my life for something if I decided I would rather die than see the bad thing happen. Of course, odds are I wouldn’t have a heck of a long time to think about it, and I’d probably freeze, and by the time I got moving it would be too late. So maybe there’s nothing I’d actually get around to dying for. Hard to tell; really: I won’t know until it happens and I’m dead.
This thread is a solicitation for opinions. As such, I am moving it to the In My Humble Opinion forum.
If anyone wishes to challenge another opinion in a debate, open a new, separate thread on that specific topic in Great Debates rather than cluttering up this thread.
[ /Modding ]
That’s fine; such is your choice. We’ll defend your life and liberty* for you, since you choose not to. Just don’t complain that you also have to pay for it via taxes.
*I don’t want to hear about Iraq; there is more to the military and national defense beyond Iraq.
I’ve put myself in considerable danger for others once upon a time.
Nowadays I would willingly sacrifice myself for certain loved ones . . . my kids certainly.
If I didn’t have kids, I suppose I might die for some abstract -ism or other. Or I might not. I really don’t know.
At last, an honest person. It’s difficult to answer the question, as unless one has been in that predicament, it’s impossible to predict what one will do. Would I risk my personal well-being for another? Quite possibly. Would I risk my life? Doubtful.
I’m not sure what beliefs I’d die for, to be honest. But I would sacrifice myself for my sisters and my husband. I wouldn’t want to live in a world without them in it anyway.
For you.
I’d even cry for you. I’d lie for you.
Baby, you know it’s true.
Well, once you’ve killed everyone on the planet, I hope you never need a new pair of glasses.
As for me, I can think of a special someone I’d die to protect.
I think it was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “You have not begun to live until you have found something that you would die for.”
I used to have it. My Jehovah’s Witness faith. Yes, I would’ve said no to a blood transfusion. No question in my mind. Not then.
Now? Nope. I might, in a moment of sudden stress risk my life for my mother, perhaps. But nobody else.
That there is nothing that I would die for is really depressing to me.
There are so many things wrong with that sentence, I don’t even know where to begin to rebut it.