To Kill Or Not To Kill

You have 25 seconds to decide whether to shoot the person you love in the head or heart or to die. What do you do?

I watched the episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Abel & Willing) with my heart in my throat thinking about what I would do. It even had me questioning my previous stance of killing someone in self-defense. I started my self-exploration while watching the episode at the “easier” end of the spectrum. I figured, well, if it were a complete stranger sitting across from me, or someone “evil” it would be easier to pull the trigger. A loved one? A family member? The thought still makes my stomach hurt. I can only imagine the pain the people were in who “choose to shoot” (CTS) and the fear and helplessness of the person who looked at their husband or wife pleading for their life.

The villain in the episode conducted the socio-psychological experiment because his family went through a similar ordeal at the hands of the Nazis. The point was to prove that all human behavior is self-serving and freedom of choice is contrary to human nature. In his experiments, he removed all outside factors and came to the conclusion that if the choice is simplified—their life or someone else’s, humans will always choose survival.

Random Musings on Life and Chimps

I woke up this morning and before getting out the bed, I usually reach over and turn on the radio. Newsradio 88. Love it. Anyway, I heard the story about the victim of Travis the Chimp and how her brother wants to gain custody of his sister and her child. That way he could make medical decisions that, right now, she obviously can’t make. She’s still sedated and I wonder how much of her face they’ve put back on. Who would you want in charge of you in that situation? Personally, I would choose a blood relative even if I’m married. So that “honor” would go to a sibling or child. Anyone who chooses a parent has to be realistic; will your parent still be alive? And you have to consider,who from your family would be most objective and not make decisions of the heart? So yeah, I wouldn’t want my husband in charge of my end-of-life or any critically important decisions but he must know CPR. He gotta be able to save my life the same way I could save his.