Thursday, September 02, 2004

Ponders

A group of children were playing near two railway
tracks, one still in use while the other disused.
Only one child played on the disused track, the
rest on the operational track.
The train came, and you were just beside the
track interchange.

You could make the train change its course to the
disused track and saved most of the kids.
However, that would also mean the lone child
playing by the disused track would be sacrificed.
Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision
we could make............. .
How do you decide?
..
..
...
..
..
What is your decision?
..
..
Most people might choose to divert the course of
the train,and sacrifice only one child. You might
think the same way, I guess.

Exactly, I thought the same way initially because to
save most of the children at the expense of only
one child was rational decision most people
would make, morally and emotionally.

But, have you ever thought that the child choosing
to play on the disused track had in fact made the
right decision to play at a safe place?
Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of
his ignorant friends who chose to play where the
danger was.

This kind of dilemma happens around us
everyday. In the office, community, in politics and
especially in a democratic society, the minority is
often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no
matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are,
and how farsighted and knowledgeable the
minority are.

The child who chose not to play with the rest on
the operational track was sidelined. And in the
case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear
for him.

The friend who forwarded me the story said he
would not try to change the course of the train
because he believed that the kids playing on the
operational track should have known very well that
track was still in use and that they should have run
away if they heard the train's sirens.

If the train was diverted, that lone child would
definitely die because he never thought the train
could come over to that track! Moreover, that track
was not in use probably because it was not safe.

If the train was diverted to the track, we could put
the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And
in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing
one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds
of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough
decisions that need to be made,we may not
realize that hasty decisions may not always be the
right one.

"Remember that what's right isn't always popular...
and what's popular isn't always right."

Everybody makes mistakes; that's why they put
erasers on pencils. (..and liquid paper now is
getting fancier..)

Labels: stories

-----------------------------------------------------------
tEdDi @ |7:01 pm|