The Cost of Life

Whenever someone dies before their time, is one person solely to blame, or do others shoulder some of the blame? We all carry the responsibility of the health and lives of the people next to us because we are our brother's keeper. If we don't care, who will? Why do we ignore the hurts and cries of others when we are the ones who should be helping?

A person is beset by thieves, stabbed and robbed at night and is left for dead. Later, he dies from blood loss. Who is to blame for his death? The first impulse is to say the one that stabbed him. But what about the person walking down the street who thought nothing of the screams? He hears the unwonted cries, but is too concerned trying to get home. All he had to do was investigate the scream, call 911, and the  person could have been saved. So who is to blame more for the death, the thief, or the passerby?


One hundred years ago, the famed ship Titanic sank on its maiden voyage. Over 1,500 souls lost their lives that night. Most could blame the deaths on the captain for not having slowed down that night. But it wasn't just the captain's fault that all those souls lost their lives. A ship sailing in the vicinity that night saw the flares of the Titanic but the captain thought they were just celebrating. There were only enough lifeboats for about half the people on board Titanic. To think that the ship that saw the flares thought nothing of it is... astounding.


Even when there is no one else to blame, sometimes the one guilty does not take it. In the book, Call of the Wild, we see a dog named Buck travel through the Yukon as a sled dog. During one of the treks, a master drives his team of dogs past their limits. The dogs are so exausted and in such horrid shape that one of the dogs actually dies from it. But the masters think nothing of it. All they think about is just getting to their destination as quickly as possible.

We all carry the weight of lives on our shoulders. Not just ours. We are responsible for the welfare of the people next to us because we are our brother's keeper.