The Choice is Yours, Dear Reader

Imagine if you will, Dear Reader, that you are presented with two buttons. One of which ends the life of every potentially dangerous person on the planet...

...And another button, that does absolutely nothing.

And it is at this moment, Dear Reader, that you are faced with a choice. Which button will you press?

For some, the answer may seem obvious. “The first one, of course!” Many might cry. After all, most of the world's problems are the result of humans making bad decisions. Poor choices regarding how they treat their fellow man, or environment. By eliminating those people, the world would surely be a better place, right?

Well, yes. In some capacity, it would be. By removing every person who could potentially harm their fellow man, you would save an immeasurable amount of lives. However, I implore you, Dear Reader, to take some time to think about the nature of this button. You see, the idea of eliminating every evil person on the planet may seem alluring, but I ask you to take another look at how this hypothetical situation is presented. You see, the button in question would end the life of every potentially dangerous person on the planet. So, what does this mean?

Well, on one hand it means that those who have committed evil actions in the past would be unharmed if they no longer posed a threat to society. However, more importantly, eliminating only the potentially dangerous means punishing those who may have not have done anything wrong yet, despite their potential to do so in the future. Innocent people would still be harmed. Some may argue this is the most effective way to deal with this problem. After all, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, right?

You see, the flaw with this hypothetical is that it is a simple solution for a complex problem. Or morality is not a black and white situation, as human nature isn’t something that is set in stone. People change over time, and just because some have the potential to negatively impact society doesn’t mean that they will. Every day, we unconsciously make thousands of small decisions that shape us into the people we are right now. Regardless of how subtle the changes may be, we always wake up as different people than we were yesterday, simply due to the nature of our existence. Some of us may be better, others may be worse, yet these variables are constantly in flux. In fact, you could make the argument that due to the nature of our free will, every human on this planet is potentially dangerous. One even could argue that there’s nothing stopping the button from killing everyone on the planet, including the one who pushes it. Not to mention, pressing a button that will kill people, regardless of how evil they may be, still is an action that ends someone else's life. It is still an act of murder.

No matter how good we may try to be, we all have the potential for great acts of evil. However, this also means we all have the potential for great acts of good. No matter how many mistakes we may make, we all still have the ability to make good choices. We all have the potential to make the world a better place. Is it really fair to take that opportunity away from people simply because they might do harm in the future? One bad day may be all it takes to push someone over the edge, but what's to say one good day can't do the opposite?

Moving on, I would like to talk briefly about the second button. The button that does absolutely nothing. Now you might be wondering, why is this button even part of the hypothetical?  If it does nothing, what is the point of pressing it? Why can’t we just walk away?

As stated above, we humans are faced with thousands of decisions in our daily lives, but the most basic of these is the decision to do something versus nothing. Say, for example, you see a piece of garbage on the ground. At this moment, you are presented with two options. You can either pick it up, and dispose of it properly, or you can keep walking. You can do something, or you can do nothing. Complacency is still a choice, despite the fact that the world is unchanged. That garbage was placed there by someone acting neglectful, and you bear no responsibility for the environmental damage it may cause. However, by choosing to just walk past, you are choosing to leave the world as it is as opposed to making it better. Things may not get any worse, but they certainly don’t get any better either.

So, what was the point of all this? Which button is correct? Well, that’s up to you, dear reader. You see, many of the world's problems are simply out of our control. While complacency may be undesirable, sometimes it is the only option we have. However, to paraphrase the late John F. Kennedy, ask not what the world can do for you, but what you can do for the world. We may only have control over our own actions, but that is still a level of control we possess. Every day we make thousands of small decisions that impact the world around us. Sometimes, the world is better because of that, but sometimes it is worse. However, there is always tomorrow. Just because we make mistakes today, doesn't mean we can make the right decision tomorrow. And yes, I do believe that most people do try to make the right decision, or at least, what they believe to be the right decision. The problem is, not everyone sees the world the same way, and what might be right for some people might be wrong for other people. Unfortunately, there is no "one answer" that fixes everything for everyone.

As we come to the end of this little thought piece, I have one final question for you, dear reader. What will you do? I have discussed all I can with you, and now the choice is up to you. Which button will you push? Would you choose to end a large chuck of humanity in order to preserve the rest? Or will you choose complacency? Will you make the world better? Will you make the world worse? Or, will you leave it as it is? Will you do something? Or, will you do nothing?

The choice is yours, Dear Reader.