Friday, April 22, 2011

Why Should I Listen To You?

Alright, so I've been slacking. Heh. Anyways, I'm skipping the post on suicide as it's pretty self-explanatory. The government should try to prevent it, but not by making it harder for the deceased's family to get their body back. (The only real legal repercussion of suicide is that it is damn hard for your family to retrieve your body for a timely funeral.)

Anyways. Busybodies. Nosy folk. People who tell you how you should lead your life personally. (Also preachers who preach hellfire and brimstone, or along those lines.)

In my eyes, there are only a few people whose lives it is permissible to interfere with.
1- Family and loved ones
2- Friends
3- People who come to you seeking aid
4- People in immediate danger

In other words, people who you know personally, people who want the help, or people who clearly need the help.

And by clearly need the help, I do not mean, "You're going to hell for your sins, repent!" or "That cigarette will kill you, you know." or "Hey, you shouldn't go base jumping." Chances are, if people are doing something, they know about the dangers involved, and don't need to be reminded.

Alright, devil's advocate time. What if they don't know about the dangers, because they haven't researched, and their close friends and family haven't bothered to tell them? You wouldn't know, and they might get seriously hurt. And you would have been able to prevent it.

But for me, it's such a small percentage (I mean, who doesn't hear about the dangers of smoking or drinking, and I'm pretty damn sure you've got to sign some stuff before being able to base jump...) that it really is unlikely that you will come across even one person in over their head. And how many of those will take heed from a complete stranger?

Alright, so I find I'm actually a little divided on giving advice to strangers.

I'll post part two tomorrow. Let's see if I can't have a firmer stance on pressing your ethics or morals on other people. I probably won't.

1 comment:

  1. I was bored and translated that first paragraph back and forth a number of times on google:

    Well, I was outnumbered. EPA. However, the suicide of his post as I go, is very clear. The government should try to avoid, but this is not the bereaved family of bodies is difficult. (suicide act is that only the real impact will be damn hard for your family, the funeral of your body to recover quickly.)
    -Matthew

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