This question was brought up in class today, and it shocked me that I had never really thought about it. What do I believe in with all my heart, that I would be willing to die for? I've thought about what I'm passionate about, what I believe in, but never what I would die for. The girl from Columbine came to mind, when asked, with a gun pointed to her head if she believed in god. She had seen others deny him and go free, and even after this she said boldly "yes" and died for her beliefs. She believed in this so much she was willing to die for it.
A teenage boy's mother's boyfriend was drunk, and began beating his mother, almost killing her. The son intervened, breaking the man's arm, making him stop. The boy went to jail for this, and when asked if he regretted it, replied "I'd do it again in a second". The teacher then said, if you're going to break a mans arm, or allow someone to kill you, it better be for something good.

Is there anything any of you believe that strongly? I care about equality. I would die for the women in Saudi Arabia and other places in the world, that are treated as property and live a life of hell. I would die for the young homosexual teens, who are beaten up and ridiculed every single day for having the courage to be who they are. Amidst the "faggot!" "queer!" "dirty homo" they still dont deny their beliefs and themselves, often ending up killing themselves or being beaten to a pulp by unaccepting peers. I would die for the children around the world who are abused, the children who are so miserable that they feel the need to commit suicide, homeless people, starving people.

What would you die for? What do you believe in? Has anyone ever really thought about this before? I am curious to hear what the replies will be..

Hmm. I have a bit of a morbid mind so I think about questions like these often. If the death of me will prevent the death of another human being whom is worthy of my respect, I would gladly give my life. If someone were pointing a gun to my head and any of my major beliefs that shape me as a person were denied, I would die for those beliefs. I would die for the improvement of how people are treated. I would die if another person could be helped (in general, I'm not going to bother being specific). I'm definitely going to try donating my organs. I don't think I'd die for anything frivolous, but things that are important to me, there's a good chance.

"What would you do, for a Klondike Bar?"

I might die if I can eat the Klondike bar first.

Sorry

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Touchy issue for me really, in a way. Just what I would die for is kind of personal (Ok maybe not really..) There are just some beliefs and some people I would die for, and I guess I don't feel like going into detail.

Thats fine. There are alot of things I have to hold back as well.. *sigh* In a perfect world..

I don't really hold this point of view but its interesting, bear in mind it is atheist and doesn't hold room for any 'God' figure:

Everything we see, hear etc, and everything we perceive is computed by our brains, our memories, everything. Therefore if we die, everyone else dies. It is invalid to say that other people will live after we die, because the only world we have any experience of is that of our brain and we have no way of ever telling whether other people's sensory universes exitst. Assuming there is no God and no after life it is feasible to say that the only universe is ours.

It goes back to Cogito Ergo Sum, I think therefore I am. If we accept that the only thing we can be sure of is our own thought, and that death destroys thought, then we no longer exist. So what would I die for? Well, if I die everything will die, as everything is merely the impression on my brain

I would give my life for any living thing. Even a spider! well, being a puppet, I guess ill give my life for anything my master (?) wishes.

Anyone near and dear to me without a second thought.

I'd most definitely risk my life for just about anyone.

At the same time anything I hold in high regards (belief wise).

I'm not sure I'm ready to give my life for anything. Having said that I've not got a gun pointed to my head. I really can't tell until I'm in the situation. I'd like to think that I'd offer my life for one of my near and dearest in that situation but I'd also like to think I wouldn't sh*t in my pants!

Personally until I'm in that situation I don't know what I'd do. It's not a very good analogy but what would I do if I go pregnant? Right now I don't want to be pregnant but who's to say that if I got pregnant by accident and the hormones kicked in I wouldn't change my mind?

I don't think there's anything worth dying for. What's worth living for occupies me more.

That's extremely interesting, Commie. If you don't mind my asking... what's the answer to that?

What would I die for...? I think I've become so ambiguous in my beliefs in the past few years that I don't know if I can think of any that I'm completely devoted to. Well, beliefs are dangerous anyway. Not in moderation, of course... but dogmatic beliefs cause a lot of crap in the world. I'm more for "good ideas" (all bow down to the greatness of Dogma). Anyway... and I don't know about the people in my life. I try to picture a moment in which it would be my life or my best friend's. I can't figure what I'd do. Is that horrible? I can almost see myself dying rather for someone I didn't even know. Or a group of people I didn't know. If I was sure that my death would bring about a definite change for miserable people... perhaps. But I don't see myself seeking that out... I'm not a martyr. I think I'm too caught up in reason to be very passionate... and sacrificing oneself requires a lot of passion.

Here's a question that vaguely ties into the above quote. Although I know this probably isn't what he was talking about. If you were right on the edge of committing suicide, what would be important enough in life to make you change your mind?

in short, anyone that was suffering or in danger and everything i believe in, and i'm not in the mood to go into that.
that, and one certain person especially... it's a strange feeling and one that leaves you feeling very vulnerable, at that...to be willing to die for someone, or at least do anything that would make them happy.

I've been there, many times. My answer to that is I know I have people that care about me, sometimes my depression far outweighs that, but I am not a selfish person and suicide is selfish. I'd be leaving people hurting. I can't bear doing that to people I love, no matter how much I have to suffer by continuing to live.

I can understand people willing to die so others may live but I think it would be verging on insanity to die because you can't deny "god" or some belief. If someone is mad enough to threaten your life on the basis of whether you believe in "god", they should be humoured and enthusiastically lied to until you are out of range, surely? Taking them seriously is just entering their madness, no?

amen to that. that's exactly what stops me from trying. today would be one of those days i'd consider it, but i've been shown so much caring today from friends, and had so much fun, i know i wouldn't even bother giving it any thought. you've got enough to be thankful for in life, whoever you are, that it's just a waste.

Aye, the suicide thing. Up to about the age of 30, I considered suicide almost daily and attempted it half-heartedly once. What got me clear was some knowledge about the functioning of the mind/consciousness. Basically, the negative. self-destructive thought patterns keeping me in a state of depression and misery were just ego - learned behaviour, an animal understanding of reality. That is, not an integral, essential part of the creature that is me but a changing, fluid set of habits and prejudices. I realised that the things that depressed me were exaggerated in my ego and were much less terrible than I thought they were. Once I realised I could be happy, I laughed, on and off, for weeks. I still get a bit depressed occasionally but I'm not remotely suicidal anymore.

Same here.

If one of my loved ones was in danger...I'd rather try to save us both than sacrifice myself. I wouldn't leave them with that guilt -- knowing that I'd died for them and it could have been them instead. I doubt the fact that I'd gone willingly to save them would bring them any solace -- I know I would regret it the rest of my life if someone did that for me. As for dying for a stranger or a cause -- it's even less likely that I would do that. I'd rather try to save the stranger if I can and work for the cause so I can see what happens.

I have no desire to die in a blaze of glory. I'd rather live as much as I can, do as much as I can, and hopefully die peacefully in my sleep at some old age. There's no guarantee that there is anything after this life...this is all I know....and I'd like to experience as much of it as I can. I'm honestly quite terrified of death.

A clarification of my point: death solves nothing. It's a loss without gain. As transactions go, not a wise one. Far more valuable, meaningful, and profitable to live for something, to devote your life, or some of it, to something, rather than destroy the most precious - in a sense, the only - commodity you possess.

As for what's worth it, that's for you to decide, it's too subjective for an answer.

Well, of course you're quite right Commie, but you are evading the question slightly. I wouldn't like to have to die for something at all, seeing as how I couldn't guarantee after death that my death would have the intended results.

Of course, keeping with the question and assuming that my death would have exactly the results I intend, I would die out of spite. I'd die to spite an organisation or a group of people who I utterly disagreed with. For example, I'd consider dying if I knew that it would seriously damage the Israeli occupation of Palestine, or if it would change American politics forever, or if it would truly open the eyes of ignorant people. I'd die if I knew that it would destroy the Catholic Church, or if I knew that it would bring Robert Mugabe's government down.
Dying for goods causes isn't really terribly useful though, because it kind of taints them with violence or death. Dying out of spite would satisfy the latent bastard in me.

Yes I would think of saving myself and any friends/loved ones/faceless regular people rather than just give my life for them, but somehow I just would see it as an oppurtunity to end the suffering in life. In a way, if your dead you don`t have to see any of your loved ones die, other people, and hear of any more tragedy caused by the human race that fills my mind all the time.

Im very sorry about my attitude but If I die, "the blood that poors from me will not be blameless" as I am just one of those guns that humans own, and if I try to fight back and live life as a good person, I will be shot down.

live for your friends, your family, Just protect them because thats all we care about. Ourselves. Our Family, our friends. I`d like to see someone die for a complete stranger! at least they would not care who the person was and just respect life more than god damn human race.

To hypothesise about who you would die for is an interesting way to expose your emotions and people would take it in the respect of facing death, but on an optimistic day I would say " I will never die" and that is the strongest (yet stupid) way that some people should look at life.

Some wise person once said, "Anyone can die for a cause, but it takes a man to live humbly for one."

If all other means were exhausted (escape, talking, intervention) and push came to shove I would give my life for a few things..

Most notably (and in order):
my little sisters
my friends
defense of my homeland (not invasion of someone else's)
fighting against some great injustice (ethnic cleansings etc)

It's not that I don't value my life. I do heavily. I'm just willing to give it up for a lot of things. If you were to see your worst enemy in the middle of the highway about to get hit by a semi, would you run out to save him/her knowing full well that you'll die instead? I would. Not to sound self-righteous or anything, but I'd do it. I wouldn't die for no reason; I'd give my life to make a difference in another's, even if just one person's.

Just seems appropriate to this thread:

This girl Ruth at my school she was the "life and soul of the party". Really nice, pretty, fun etc. Came home one day to find her step dad attacking her mum (later it transpired that the mum had been cheating on the stepdad with the dad). She stepped in, she thought she was saving the mum, but the mum was already dead by then. The step dad turned on her raped her, and stabbed her. She held on for 5 hours to tell the police then died.

He pleaded a crime of passion and was let go free. *spits at the justice system*

That seems like a waste, but it just goes to show what anger, love and stuff can do. I think i wuold die for the people i love.

It's very easy to say you would die for a stranger...but I highly doubt that many of us would, honestly.

No, I would not dash in front of the semi. I would shout at them to get out of the way, and grab them to pull them out of the way if I was close enough and had enough time -- but I would not put myself in front of the truck to save them. Plus, there's also the question of what are they doing in the middle of the highway, staring into oncoming traffic in the first place?

I do that terribly often for some reason...

Dashing in front of that semi? If I were absolutely, positively sure the other person would stay alive, I would. Guilt after someone dies for you? Sure, there's going to be some, but it's not reason enough to me to change my mind. Then again, if the situation were actually happening, I might be so terrified I couldn't move. So I'm not sure if my thinking would work in real life.

I would like to say I would die to save some one else's life. The truth is, I don't know. And I never will until I'm in that sort of situation... but I hope I never will be. When it comes down to, I think self preservation is a pretty strong instinct.

I don't know if I'd die to save a stranger (though I might, just because dying seems better than spending the rest of my life knowing that I let someone else die) but I'd definitely die for the people I love. Their lives are so much more important than mine as far as I'm concerned, so I'd do it without a second thought.

The rest of the things I'd be willing to die for couldn't be solved by my death. I'd die if it meant that my generation would open their eyes and start caring about the rest of the world, but only if I was absolutely certain that would happen. I'd die to end at least some, if not all, of the suffering in the world, but once again only if I knew for sure that would happen. Which it wouldn't, of course, so I'd rather try to make these things happen while I'm alive than die for them.

These ignorant to oncoming traffic strangers need to be helped! they don`t know what they are doing! ok, maybe I would sacrifice myself for a stranger, but I would definately help one at risk of my own life. If you martyr yourself to save the human race... whats the point? the human race is evil! CMON! they will never stop what they`re doing unless about a couple of 100,000,000,000 are wiped out. Oh my god! im a maniac! but its a standing theory... (gets dragged off kicking and screaming)

I'm incredibly selfish. I value life. I would not deliberately die for anyone. Thats not to say I wouldnt risk my life for them. But face certain death, especially for a stranger? No.
I am not scared of death, i just enjoy life too much.

I'd probably die for someone I love.... but then again, i'm kinda scared to.

This isn't the greatest day for me to ask myself this, as I'm contemplating suicide, but I'll give it a go. I would die for my family, friends, dog, stranger. I would not die for my beleifs, as I do not currently beleive in any religion. I would die if it made the world a better place, if it helped anyone else at all. I would die to hurt an organisation, etc. I would die.

Depressing, aint it?

would i die so others might live? yes. hey, as spock said: "the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few, or the one."

would i die instead of lying about my beliefs? no. how does that help anyone, myself included? choose your battles wisely i say. standing up for a principle is one thing, but sometimes it's better to withdraw and regroup.

would i die for a cause? depends. if my death would make a greater difference than my life, then yes, i'd be a martyr. but like commie, i believe that it often does more good to live for a cause than to die for it.

life is precious and should not be thrown away for any little bit of trouble that comes along. if you die today, who will fight for the cause tomorrow?

ocean!: polo says he would die out of spite. i say live out of spite. take all the things in your life that suck and say "i'm gonna live just to spite you!" give a metaphorical finger to school, friends, family, yourself, whatever it is that has you feeling the way you do. make life your b-- err... female dog!

God Ocean, I know what you mean. But you'd better not do it, you selfish bastard, otherwise I will smack you upside the head in hell. As for beliefs, I do not follow any religion either, although I respect religion immensely. When I refer to beliefs, I simply mean things you believe in, such as moral justice, equality, the fact that mint chocolate chip ice cream is indeed superior to rolo ( a stretch, perhaps..) ect. Things that people believe to be true. Do you not believe in anything? Is there not a cause you would die for? Life is very valuable, but if my life could somehow change the world in some small way, then I would definately give it.

I would die for. . . . . anything. Im sorry to say that im not afraid of death in any way. If something came up, I wouldn't hesitate. Id sacrafice myself for someone else. . . .I think. It's never happened so I don't know. Maybe I wuld be cowardly.




(geez if mata reads all these posts he might freak)

<ridiculous spam>
You quoted spock! *swoons*

Marry me!
</ridiculous spam>

Ditto on the Spock quote.

Also, "there is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Take the Buffy (bad Tigersong, Bad!) example, where the Vampire Slayer in question gives up her life so that her sister doesn't have to die (and also so that the world doesn't end). It was a very powerful example, for me. I would hope that I would have the courage to do that.

Another example: When a prisoner escaped from the Auschwitz during the Holocaust, the Nazis selected 10 others to be killed in reprisal for the escape. One of the 10 selected to die began to cry out that he would never again get to see his wife or children. Maximilian Kolbe (a polish priest, now canonized) asked to die in his place. His request was granted.

I agree it's probably usually more useful to live for a cause than to die for one. At the same time, if I new the impact were bigger than my one life, I'd probably sacrifice myself. For example, if I could sacrifice my life to end cancer, I would.

I think I'd side with the (ancient) Gnostics on the age-old question on martyrdom for God -- it's not really worth it, when you could be doing more good work in the world alive than dead. So, lie.

I don't think I could die out of spite. It would seem like such a waste for such a giving act.


It's a nice philosophical point, and, as you point out, if you die, you're dead and you don't care. However, I don't think that's the point of the question. Would you be willing to give up your existance as it stands for something/someone? I think it's not so much the death, as it is the choice to die, that's important here.


I probably would, as well -- or, at least, for whatever reason, I'd hope I'd have the courage to sacrifice myself to save another.

But that's probably the Christian in me speaking!


Point.

Wow, Tigersong, and all you others, that is so altruistic. I'm in awe.

But, really, my worst enemy in the middle of the highway, saving their life and giving up mine? I like my life. They are my enemy. If they're my enemy, they must have done some pretty bad things and I would wish they didn't exist. So, why would I want to give up my life?

But yeah, I would like to think I could give up my life to save other lives. Ideally, many lives. Or one really, really important life. Not a president's life, but like a scientist's or something.

But give up my life to save my enemy's? One life for one life? Where's the gain in that?

Wow I'm a cold-hearted person.

no, i agree with you artemisia. i wouldn't die to save someone i hated. the people i hate... i figure the world would probably be a better place without them- bush for instance.

I will always chose protecting people over killing anyone no matter who they were.
If the only way to protect someone was to kill someone else, only then would I ever attack. I am passionate about the good in every person in this entire world and for one of them I would give me life (HOPEFULLY TO A NATURAL DISASTER!)

But I think we can all learn from Kenshin himura (samurai x/rurouni kenshin) sorry I got to go finish this post in time...

I would die for my son and only my son. I love him more than anything else in this entire universe and nothing can compare to that. If my death would ensure his continued existance, then bring it on!

I would not die for anything else - purely because my son needs me in his life and I could not afford to jeopardise that. As I see it there is no greater cause than that.

I worked very hard to bring him into this world and I'll work even harder to ensure he stays in it and hopefully, one day, he will make a difference.

I think I probably agree with you, but since I've never actually *had* an enemy, I guess I'm just thinking in idealistic terms. If it truly was someone whom I hated, I probably would do the human thing. But then, I've never claimed to be a saint.


No gain, only in many cases, love. My parents would probably die for me. I would die for you. I might even die for my brother. These things are things of love.

love is ... liking something alot... to the point of giving your life for it in this case. Theres things in this life you like alot but it can all be taken away from you quite easily. If your there at the specific moment when you can protect what you love, you will, but if your not... then whos to stop the death of someone you love? Life is almost completely out of our control.

As long as my enemy wasnt trying/or already had killed or hurt anyone I love, id gladly stand up for them against a gun. I am a saint! Ever seen the film micheal? good film.

No, I don`t have many enemies except for the people who like to hurt my friends. Yes, I have an enemy and he and a group busted my nose and permantly physically scarred me while I was attempting to protect my friends from him. He still rubs it in my face like hes still kicking me again and again hanging around my area threatening me. We went to court, he admitted everything and got off completely free. crazy world...

The people I care about most of course. Not much else like!

simple, effective, I like it. The monkey is right.

I would die doing God's will and maybe standing up for my country, if I agreed.

depends on the circumstances, though i'd only do it for myself (not because anyone else says so)

did you ever doubt me

One person said they greatly respected religions? (sorry I can't quote the passage but I'm newish to this)

Really, aren't religions just a system of social control used to exploit the masses by harnessing their spiritual awareness? All these weird "gods" and belief systems all seem to result in the leaders of the religion getting rich at the expense of the poor. As long as we depend on others for our souls, we are asking to be exploited.

I know I don't know anyone on this site so I'm sorry if I offend anyone. Still, I intend to carry on my wee crusade to try and alert people to what is possible and avoidable.

You definately have a point there messiah. But when it comes down to it, one has to look at the message the religion is trying to send out, and judge that. In that sense, a lot of religions are very good. Their messages are positive and accepting, and are good for society to consider/follow.

There are flaws though, as there are flaws in everything. To each his own, right? But I think it's the most effective for me to just take what I can out of each religion, consider what I believe is right, and then strive for that. Perhaps you disagree with religion, I'm agnostic at the moment, others feel they have found their true calling, their meaning in life. Who's to say they're wrong?

Well, it's easy to say you'll die for someone. The harder part is will you really do it if you're put in that situation. Honestly, I wouldn't die for my religious beliefs or for my enemy. I would die for my immediate family and for close friends.

Partially, however their original goal was to explain what limited primordial logic could not.Generalization. Religions that focus upon "holy men" can lead to this. Christianity and earth based faiths with sages and the like result in this. However more "guiding" cultures that see their religious leaders less as men of god and more as guides such as the native americans do not necessarily result in this.