Would you do it?

Yessa and I were driving in the car and she said, “Momma, if you could be in a car accident where you knew you would die, but there would be world peace forever afterward, would you die?”

She took my breath away with this question.

Later, I texted Buds to tell him about it, and his response was, “Of course you’d have to do it.”

Easy for him to say.

Yessa brought me face-to-face with one of life’s huge conundrums.

If she had asked me if I would die for one of our children or my nieces or nephews or other beloved children in our life, yes! An immediate yes, no question.

Asking me about dying for the children of the world…that feels much tougher for some reason. I love my life so much.

Of course, so do those children and men and women who are dying for no good reason in wars around the world.

A friend posted a similar thought experiment on Facebook one day. He was speaking in the context of driverless vehicles. One day, those automobiles may be programmed to make decisions.

Example: the train is speeding down the tracks. If it stays on the track it is on, it is going to crash into and kill five people ahead on the tracks. It has the opportunity to divert onto another track, and on that track, it would only hit and kill one person.

To our friend, Mark, the answer was obvious. Divert for the good of the greater number.

That isn’t how my brain works. Allowing life to unfold as it will, that feels more sustainable to me. It isn’t rational, it isn’t black and white. It’s life, messy and uncertain and beautiful.