The Moral Dilemma

First the story. A group of children is playing on a railway track. There is also a disused track inter connected to this track nearby on which a lone child is playing. Let us also assume that you are at the junction of the track; when you noticed to your horror that a train was fast approaching the children who are still playing unaware of the catastrophe. Being at the track interchange junction you are in a position to change the course of the train to the unused track in time so that you are able to save all those in that track. But if you do so you may have to sacrifice the lone child who also is unaware of the approaching train. What should you do in this situation?

Should you let the train to proceed on its track and allow the children to be mowed down or should you change the track of the train forcing it to avoid the usual track and save that majority of children; mean while sacrificing the lone child on the disused track?

The immediate response to this dilemma would have been to divert the train so that maximum lives are rescued on the expense of one. It might be thought to be the most rational decision because; considering the number of lives saved you may even think that it is the one and only recourse available. But at the same time have you ever thought that the child who chose to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

The right thinking child’s life is being sacrificed for the sake of those who are ignorant and careless; who chose to play where the danger was?

This kind of situation arises every day in our lives. You can find it happening every where. It happens in your office and at home. It is there in politics and in society. It is the bane of democracy in a way where the majority rules the roost.  Many a time a minority is sacrificed for the sake of a majority. It is not at all important even if the opinion of the majority is all utter rubbish or that of the minority’s wise and far sighted. The child who wisely chose to play safe and selected the unused track is sacrificed for the sake of that foolish bunch and every body will happily go home. Not a tear will be shed for his sake.

In the opinion of the great critic Leo Velski Julian; he would not attempt to change the course of the train due to the following reason.

First of all the boys playing on the operational track might be fully aware of the risk they are taking in doing so and might be vigilant enough to any incoming trains and are prepared to save themselves at the nick of the time. On the other hand the boy who is playing on the disused track is sure that no train is expected on that track and might be oblivious of the incoming train even if it gives a siren. If the train is diverted that lone child will definitely die for it will never come to his mind that the train can come on the track on which he is playing.

More over that track was not in use may be because it was a faulty one and not safe for the train to run on it. Hence diversion of the train on to such a track not only will kill the lone child but also put the lives of all those traveling in the train in jeopardy. May be you might be inviting a larger catastrophe by diverting the train, in order to save a few lives.

Coming back to our situation the moral of the story as I said earlier is about the brute power of majority. May be that is why EM Foster the great essayist of yester years have named his essay about democracy as “Two cheers to Democracy”; because after all the bed rock of Democracy is the rule of majority over the minority, right or wrong.