THE VALUE OF LIFE
The trucks were already on their way. The heavy equipment was in place ready to start the demolition of the old building. The heavy demolition ball swung once and then again destroying the northern wall of the top floor. Then a shout from a lone workman, "there is someone up there, I saw someone moving up there." There was relative silence for a moment as all looked up at the half-torn window. Then the foreman shouted, "it is just an old mannequin. Let's get this building down, we've wasted enough time." "But there was really a man up on the fifth floor," insisted the workman as he approached the foreman. "Are you sure?" asked the foreman. "I really think I saw someone," he replied. "Look, I have no time for this," the foreman concluded. "No one ought to be up there, and you are not sure what you saw."
The workman was really not sure of what he saw, but it might well have been a man. Likewise, the agitated foreman was not absolutely convinced that there was no one there. In the end the building came down and the rubble hauled away in trucks. Whatever it was, man or mannequin, it was now hidden in a landfill somewhere. The foreman never gave the incident any thought again, but the workman always wondered if they should not have stopped just for an hour to make sure that no human life was going to be lost. He knew that in the end it was the foreman's choice, but he felt that it was always better to err on the side of life than on the side of expedience.
Should the foreman have taken the time to investigate fully the possibility that there might have been someone in the building?
If no one was really there, would it have been a waste of valuable time and money if the foreman stopped the project to see if anyone was in the building?
What is the value of a human being?
When a woman allows a child in her womb to be born, and she bears the sacrifices of motherhood even though it is inconvenient or difficult, is she showing great value for human life?
Is the life of an unborn child human? Are you sure?
Some time ago, before there were cell phones or communication devices like that, three teachers went on a field trip with their classes to a large flat island in the middle of a lake. There were no wild animals there and they all felt pretty safe to go about in small groups to survey the ecosystems around.
Early on the second morning a news bulletin came over the radio in the camp. A storm was heading their way and they had to leave the island fast or face almost certain disaster. If the river should rise sufficiently as it probably would, they might all perish. Everyone in the camp hastily packed their stuff and hurried to the boat. But something was frightfully wrong. Two students were missing. They had gone to the far side of the island to observe the early morning behaviour of some of the animals there.
The restlessness of those by the boat rose quickly to despair as the reality of the dreadful choices they would be forced to make became more apparent. Should they save themselves and almost certainly condemn two of their classmates to death or should they wait and search for them and risk the lives of everyone?
What is the value of human life? What makes it valuable?
Are some lives more valuable than others?
Some say that the value of a human life is infinite, but infinity multiplied by a million is not greater than infinity. If one human life has immeasurable value, then is the death of a million humans worse or the same as the death of one?
If you were the teacher, would you save the students by the boat and leave the two others to die?
Would you make the choice to let the students get to safety and remain to find the other two, then try to survive the storm with them?
Would you give your life for anyone?
Activity: Write and perform a monologue of an unborn child speaking to his poor, single, teenage mother about his life and expectations, and about his willingness to be born or to die.