If you could prevent either an earthquake in Peru that would kill 40,000 people, a crash at your local airport that would kill 200 people, or an automobile accident that would kill an acquaintance of yours, which would you choose?
I guess it depends on how you want to look at it. Some, like Superman, would follow Spock's logic in that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." That would imply that it would be important to prevent the earthquake in Peru that would kill 40,000 people. However, I'm of the belief that things happen for a reason. Earthquakes fall under a category that is specifically labeled Act of God. That sort of tells me that those 40,000 Peruvians were meant to die at that time. And if I did something to prevent that natural disaster, then it could spin into the longest episode of Final Destination ever. And we all know how Final Destination worked out for those kids that got out of their airplane accident. Now, a car crash killing someone I personally know, that's not necessarily something caused by natural phenomena. Most likely, one of the drivers involved did something stupid and wasn't paying attention. So I guess I'd try to stop the car accident. Maybe that's selfish, but it seems to be the one that I would most likely have the ability to prevent.
*Question of the week comes from The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.
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