Time, Adulthood, And The Ultimate Sacrifice

When I was about twelve years old President Kennedy died. His assassination triggered philosophical questions out on the playground amongst us urchins. One question was; Are you willing to give your life so others might live? The first specific version of this question was, Would you die in place of the President of the United States? Jeff Pratt chuckled assuredly and pronounced in no uncertain terms that he'd die in place of the President anytime. All of us kids said that we were willing to take that step. Kim Gilbert said he would also be willing to die in place of the Pope. He meant it too. All of us were being completely serious.

If my memory serves me correctly, the questions became more detailed as we went along. As I recall, the next question was, What is the fewest number of people that you would be willing to sacrifice your life for? I think the first kid to speak up said he would be willing to die in place of a friend or family member. Then Lester Imboden proclaimed that he would be willing to sacrifice himself for just one important person, even if he were a stranger. Pretty darn noble, huh? Well, that did it. Everyone of us nodded that we'd do the same thing. Yeah, we were a courageous, high-minded lot, that's for sure.

A lot of time has passed since them days. But I've asked myself those same questions now and then over the years. The answers are no longer the same as they were when I was a kid. First, if my voluntary death were required to allow the President of the United States to live, well, good-bye Mr. Prsident. Nope, I wouldn't do it. Not even if he were new to The Office and he won the election by a landslide. I'm not that selfless any longer. My life means just too much to me.

If I could sacrifce my own life to stop a terrorist from blowing up a bus full of passengers, I don't think I'd do that either. I'd have to actually experience such a situation to know for sure, but my guess is that I'd choose my life to those lives on the bus. I'm just being honest here folks. I think if the body count got up into the hundreds then I'd probably have to think about it good and hard. There is a point where I'd actually be brave and noble. I'm pretty sure that I'd sacrifice my life to save a mid-sized city from annihilation. I'm pretty sure.

Yeah, when I was a kid I was a whole heck of a lot more valiant. I'll bet it's true with all the adults who were once those kids, those kids way back when. I still run in to Jeff Pratt at class reunions. He was the first kid to announce that he was willing to die in place of the President. Well of course he's grown now and I'm pretty certain he feels differently about making such a sacrifice, these 45+ years later. I mean, the last time I saw him he told me that he wasn't even registered to vote.