*Note, I have no idea why I chose to write about this. I guess I just though I'd give you something to talk about/debate with your friends/family! Ha! However, I am curious to hear your opinions...
I have yet to see the movie, "The Box" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB7rX7owL-M starring Cameron Diaz and directed by Richard Kelly, however its premise is one that has stuck with me for sometime. It is loosely based on the short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson.
The story is about a woman, played by Diaz, whose son is very ill and she doesn't have the money she needs to pay for his treatments. A stranger appears on her doorstep offering her a million dollars. There is just one catch, she is handed a box with a button in it, if she decides to keep the money, she must press the button thereby killing some random person somewhere in the world. She struggles with this for quite some time finally deciding to keep the money and press the button. Once she does this she hears a shotgun ring out and spends the rest of the movie filled with guilt trying to find the person she, ultimately, just killed.
This movie is filled with all sorts of moral debates. My husband and I have discussed this fantasy so many times, on so many levels. Take away the sick child and it is simply a debate about greed. Do you care if someone you don't know is killed because you are now financially set, more or less? However, throw in the aspect of a sick child and what parent wouldn't do absolutely everything possible to take care of their innocent child? Does that mean one would kill in order to save the life of that sick child? That is very similar to the premise of another movie, "John Q" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ljEiZWHoc starring Denzel Washington. Does a parent acting out of love and responsibility diminish the moral implications that accompany an act of murder, whether directly or indirectly caused by that parent?
Could it ever be right to take an innocent* life in order to save a life? Unless you have children, however, you can not begin to understand the lengths to which you will go to in order to keep them happy and healthy. I know it sounds cliche but it is true.
I am curious to hear what others think. Would you press "the button" to save your sick child? What if you didn't have a sick child, would you press "the button" then?
Be sure to vote in my poll!
*I said an innocent life, I decided this could easily lead to a debate about the death penalty. We'll save that for another time.
3 comments:
I'm actually mean spirited in general and I also don't like most of the people in the world, so sick child or not, I'd press the button. I know...I'm hard hearted.
ETW-I find it very hard to believe you are mean spirited in general! Ha! I haven't seen it, yet, anyway! Lol!!
I would throw myself in front of a bus to push my child out of the way. I would not kill a random stanger (push a button) to save his life. I would, however, do anything in my power to stop someone from harming my child. I can't imagine my children being sick... don't even want to go there... but I just can't see how anything good would come out of killing a random stranger. Sounds like a good movie, though.
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