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I was watching this video, wondering, what kind of bravery it must take, at only 13, to forfeit your own life so that your brother may live.
So many people are suffering in the world today, I think I will take a moment to be grateful that those I love are safe and healthy.
“He’s not too heavy, Father. He’s my brother.”
John 15:13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Regardless of your faith, you must accept the truth in this statement. Any living thing has a will to survive including humans. Overcoming that and sacrificing yourself for your friend, your brother or sister, your child makes one more than human. It makes one devine. I pray for mercy for the souls of the lost, and for comfort for those who have sufferred loss.
richard dawkins would stipulate that self sacrificing is preprogrammed into our wiring, because a collective that includes self sacrifice in its genetic makeup has an evolutionary advantage over a society that doesn’t. (the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one -spock)love, selflessness, sacrifice, these are simply poetic constructs designed to make us feel better in this cruel and heartless universe
I agree Steve, thanks for your beautiful words.
of course objective analysis and removing blinders are always trumped by what we find most comforting to believe in
e,
what is “objective analysis” in this situation? I wonder, given you seem to suggest in the collective survival, are you so sure you would give up your life? Why are you still so intent on being negative when it comes to such an amazing story?
furthermore, your collective survival could be extrapolated to suggest that a society has a collective need to care and ensure all of its members survive, sound a little like communism 😉
exactly, bullseye, and that is why this story was posted, we are supposed to subliminally make the connection: ah, self sacrifice is noble and worthy, hence, a society in which our individuality is suppressed in order to serve the masses, i.e. communism, is a society we should all be striving to. however, i would point out to not forget the self in self sacrifice, it is one thing for the individual to voluntarily make the decision, in other words, the individual is lauded for his behavior, like the australian boy in this example, because he had the choice. it is quite another thing to suppress an entire populace, to subject that populace to live according to the whims and arbitrary decisions of a centralized bureaucracy which gets to determine every aspect of every individual’s lifestyle, be it healthcare, education, employment, or housing. the latter situation is contrary to another desire in the human psyche, namely: freedom
e,
You have crossed the line suggesting I posted the story as some conspiratorial subliminal message.
I posted the story because, for me, having two children,the idea that they would love each other so much, that one would give their life to save another was amazing.
You need to take a deep breath and come back to the reality you live in, one where you have a family that loves you and would sacrafice for you, not because there is some conspiracy theory that requires us to do so, but that we would do it because it’s the right thing to do.
You are lucky, not everyone has that safety net, and when you live in a civilized society, it is the collective responsiblity to help. Just like the roads you drive on to make your living, those were supplied by the government. There is a ying and yang, like Goldilocks, not too hot, not too cold…………not too much government, not too little government.
i apologize