THINK

         

This is another story to share with you and it may make you pause and think for a while.

A group of children are playing near two railway tracks, one still in use
while the other disused. Only one child is playing on the disused
track, the rest on the operational track. The train comes, and you are
just beside the track interchange. You could make the train change its
course to the disused track and save 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.

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 far sighted 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 except for his close ones.

The person who forwarded 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!

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

This is certainly food for thought.
Let us take a step back, pause and think well, before making tough decisions.

Col Rajendra Shukla