DGS49
Diamond Member
With the deaths of the nine skiers this past week, the question again comes up, How sympathetic should a sensitive human be to this event? I will try to put it into perspective.
The greatest public sympathy should fow to those who die or are catastrophically injured doing something good, for strangers. The classic case is the soldier on the battlefield or the fire fighter who dies trying to save someone from a burning house, or a police officer killed by a fleeing felon.
On the other end of the spectrum are people who are killed or catastrophically injured in the commission of a heinous act - a felony or comparable. For those folks we should have no sympathy, or even negative sympathy - "They got what they deserved." This pretty much describes George Floyd, despite the post-death "canonization" that the Left sought to grant him.
Very close to this latter extreme, in my view, are the deaths of people who were, while maybe not actively committing a crime, but were doing what they should not have been doing - say, trying to prevent government officials from carrying out their legitimate duties. I would suggest that these people deserve very close to no sympathy at all.
Then you have people who are killed or seriously injured doing things that were completely legal, even "fun," but foolish. Rock climbing, moto-cross racing, mountain climbing, scuba diving in a dangerous place, and so on. I'd give these people a little bit of sympathy, but not a lot. The skiers of this past week are in that category. Their deaths are tragedies to their families and circle of friends, but to the general public...not so much.
Most of the sudden deaths that we read about in the Media are just people who were going about their daily lives and happened to lose in the lottery of life - car accidents, natural disasters, unusual medical diseases and conditions, etc. I give them about a 50% level of my sympathy - their deaths are tragic to their own posse, but insignificant to the world at large.
I grew up around a large number of deaths. My grandparents were members of large families, and I had an aunt or uncle or grandparent passing away about once a month (or so it seemed) throughout my childhood, so I came to FEEL that death is just a part of life. And like a birth, marriage, or divorce, for those who experience it, it is the infamous "first day of the rest of your life," and you need to get on with it.
The greatest public sympathy should fow to those who die or are catastrophically injured doing something good, for strangers. The classic case is the soldier on the battlefield or the fire fighter who dies trying to save someone from a burning house, or a police officer killed by a fleeing felon.
On the other end of the spectrum are people who are killed or catastrophically injured in the commission of a heinous act - a felony or comparable. For those folks we should have no sympathy, or even negative sympathy - "They got what they deserved." This pretty much describes George Floyd, despite the post-death "canonization" that the Left sought to grant him.
Very close to this latter extreme, in my view, are the deaths of people who were, while maybe not actively committing a crime, but were doing what they should not have been doing - say, trying to prevent government officials from carrying out their legitimate duties. I would suggest that these people deserve very close to no sympathy at all.
Then you have people who are killed or seriously injured doing things that were completely legal, even "fun," but foolish. Rock climbing, moto-cross racing, mountain climbing, scuba diving in a dangerous place, and so on. I'd give these people a little bit of sympathy, but not a lot. The skiers of this past week are in that category. Their deaths are tragedies to their families and circle of friends, but to the general public...not so much.
Most of the sudden deaths that we read about in the Media are just people who were going about their daily lives and happened to lose in the lottery of life - car accidents, natural disasters, unusual medical diseases and conditions, etc. I give them about a 50% level of my sympathy - their deaths are tragic to their own posse, but insignificant to the world at large.
I grew up around a large number of deaths. My grandparents were members of large families, and I had an aunt or uncle or grandparent passing away about once a month (or so it seemed) throughout my childhood, so I came to FEEL that death is just a part of life. And like a birth, marriage, or divorce, for those who experience it, it is the infamous "first day of the rest of your life," and you need to get on with it.
