The drug companies steal form the dying all of the time, so in my opinion it's not a crime to steal from then if given the chance or circumstances dictate no other means.

Originally posted by OldThinker


1) What would you do?

2) Why? Are you justified?

3) Isn't stealing a sin? always? maybe not?

4) Does LIFE trump everything else?

5) What would the Good Samaritan do?

6) What would Martin Luther King do?

7) Is sin really relative?

(1) Steal the drug.

(2) To save a life.

(3) Yes it is but is letting somebody die when you have the means to save, murder and is not murder a sin?

(4) In this case yes, because profit is less important then life.

(5) In wich case? a good samaritan would not put profit before life.

(6) Hard to say but I'm leaning to him stealing the drug if a loved one's life depended on it.

(7) No, because if you believe in god's will then the person would die regardless of medicine given that is if it were god's will for them to die.

[edit on 22-10-2009 by alyosha1981]

1) What would you do?


Steal the medicine, no doubt.



2) Why? Are you justified?

Because i would want my wife to live.
Not legally justified and perhaps not "Morally" justified... but in your own world, in what matters to you... you are justified.

The guy is gonna make a lot of money from this drug....so I'm taking it and my wife is gonna live.



3) Isn't stealing a sin? always? maybe not?

Don't really believe in sin.
But some laws/rules have to be broken at certain times.

Like... life or death situations.



4) Does LIFE trump everything else?


Not necessarily... but in this situation it does, yes.



5) What would the Good Samaritan do?


Broke in and stole the drug for the guy.... and then handed himself in for the crime.



6) What would Martin Luther King do?


He's dead... so not a lot.
But were he alive, he would do what any devoted husband would do.... break in and steal that medicine.



7) Is sin really relative?


Extremely.... most things are relative.

Like most others, I would steal it, admit to it and pay for it, sell something, whatever...take my punishment.

I have had too much pride in my morality...living by my conscious...must be ever mindful lest I fall flat on my face.

Your story is akin to, would you lie to hide a Jew from Nazi's. The answer is yes.

I think morality is not as black and white as we would like to make it.

Gotta run.

The sin vs redemption are weighed on a scale. On one end of the scale you have the sin of theft and on the other end you have the redemption of saving a life. In this case the theft was justified. This is of course on the spiritual level of justice. The person who stole the medicine would not be found guilty in the eyes of G-d. Now that doesn't mean it's the same with the eyes of man. The real guilty person in this whole thing is the greedy person who puts money above life itself. He will be the one paying a spiritual price.


[edit on 22-10-2009 by cloakndagger]

I'd steal the drug in a heartbeat for a loved one.

Then, I'd be willing to face the consequences.

I don't care what other people would do .


This to me is a choice between a little wrong and a big wrong. It's a little wrong to steal. It's a big wrong to let someone die that you can help.

I know that two wrongs don't make something right.

Originally posted by OldThinker
1)What would you do?

I would break into the man’s house and take what I needed to save the woman’s life and if Mr greedy got in my way he would wish he had not.

Originally posted by OldThinker
2) Why? Are you justified?

I am justified because the druggist thought that the value of a person’s life hinged on the dirty coin, and when he objectified a human life in that way he had already lost the argument way before I broke into his house to steal his drug.

Originally posted by OldThinker
3) Isn't stealing a sin? always? maybe not?

Stealing is wrong but I do not class theft as sin because I am an atheist and so I am free from what is in my opinion shackles for the mind. I would steal from this man because a life depended on my act of theft – pure and simple!

Originally posted by OldThinker
4) Does LIFE trump everything else?

In this particular scenario this cancer stricken woman’s life trumped because her life is more important than some greed driven plan. In the wider world such a scenarios in regard to the question of “life trumping everything” else would depend on who was about to lose their life and why? It is all relative to the situation you might find yourself in.

Originally posted by OldThinker
5) What would the Good Samaritan do?

A Good Samaritan might not steal but a person who respects life and sees’s life as more important than the dirty buck would steal and that to my mind is the real Good Samaritan.

Originally posted by OldThinker
6) What would Martin Luther King do?

I think he would steal but not before ripping the druggist a new one for putting the value of the woman’s life in balance with the importance of his bank balance.

Originally posted by OldThinker
7) Is sin really relative?

In my world sin is a myth and the only thing that matters to me is I harm no person unless that person wishes to harm me and actually tries to do so. Live and let live.

Life for me is the real importance here and stealing from a person to save a person transcends the fact that the druggist expended much time, effort and finances into his project.

No argument from him or a court of law could sway me from knowing that I did the right thing.

1) What would you do? I would without a doubt steal the medicine.

2) Why? Are you justified? Because I would be saving a life and the justification would be life over a theft.

3) Isn't stealing a sin? always? maybe not? Stealing is a sin, yes it is. I would sin for the one I loved. If I had to sacrifice myself to save a life I will.

4) Does LIFE trump everything else? Good question. I am going with this scenario as a reference and just say YES.

5) What would the Good Samaritan do? Have someone else do it.

6) What would Martin Luther King do? He would do the same.

7) Is sin really relative? Yes but in this situation it does not weigh so heavy. Imagine you are asked to tell a small white lie to a criminal who has a shotgun pointed at your mothers head. The only way he would not shoot her is if you tell him that the moon is made out of used MP3 players, which is obviously not true. What would you do then...I am pretty sure 99 percent of you would lie to him. Bit of an odd analogy but the point gets across.

I think most everyone would steal the medicine as they think it would be worth the moral and legal costs of doing so.

A more important and relevant question is should our government have a role in making sure situations like this do not occur? Is the right for someone to make windfall profits more important than a life or multiple lives as would surely be the case down the road with this druggist?

My answer is that the goverment should be responsible to ensure that commerce and trade is done in the way that is in the best interest of society as a whole. When certian actions threaten the well being of society, the government needs to step in do something about it. Otherwise why do we even need government if it is just going to be each man for himself? Let's just fight it out in the streets.

It also begs to the inconsistencies of our system. The druggist is using the each man for himself mentality but when the husband takes the drug the he is also using that philosophy, but now all of a sudden the druggist has an issue with it.

Don't get me wrong, the druggist needs to be rewarded adequately for his cure, but it can't be too such a degree that society as a whole is worse off.

1) What would you do?
If not able to get the drug through the druggist directly, go over his head.

2) Why? Are you justified?
Because HE IS WRONG TO OVERCHARGE.

3) Isn't stealing a sin? always? maybe not?
It is the druggist stealing- not I.

4) Does LIFE trump everything else?
In some cases, yes.

5) What would the Good Samaritan do?
Go public and expose the druggist as the vile person he is.

6) What would Martin Luther King do?
Irrelevant to the question as much as what would Jesus or anyone else do.

7) Is sin really relative?
Not in my world. My code of ethics, morals, values, come from within me and my personal experience. The word "sin" has no meaning to me.

Originally posted by cenpuppie
..........
5) What would the Good Samaritan do?
Nothing but watch the wife die and curse there luck and situation.

6) What would Martin Luther King do?
Hold a fund raiser, or do something else using his fame to generate the money.
.......

Great responses for most of them, thank you for your time!

May we discuss 5 and 6 ok?

OT