How would you handle the most dire situation imaginable ? It’s a tough question to answer as a hypothetical, but still an interesting thought experiment nonetheless. Would your fight or flight response kick in? If so, are you a fighter or a…uh, flight-er?
In any event, we can all hope that we don’t run into any awful predicaments in the near future. But if we do, discussing them can lead to a lively debate on Twitter.
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Here’s the scenario: there’s a fire and you have to prioritize which loved ones to save?
It’s an awful situation to consider, but it would be an unfortunate reality in the event of a nasty house fire. It’s also an important discussion for couples to have when starting a family. And, it’s the basis of a recent tweet that gained some serious traction.
Here’s what kicked things off.
The tweet from Gabrielle , who you can find on Twitter @cozymother , outlines her answer to the fire question: the kids get saved first, and then anyone else if possible. But she went the extra mile by extending the hypothetical to childbirth.
If only the mother or the child can live, which will he save? He answered the question immediately.
Many others saw where he was coming from.
You never want to be in a situation where you have to choose who will live and who will die. But in this hypothetical, how can you ever choose to sacrifice your soulmate?
This explains it well.
If the mother dies during childbirth, it’ll likely lead to years of therapy for the whole family. It’s hard to imagine a more traumatic situation, with a family welcoming a new baby into the world while simultaneously grieving the loss of the baby’s mom.
Some people are really committed to kids.
The thinking here likely stems from the fact that a young child has many decades of life ahead of them, while an older parent has already lived a few decades and is closer to middle age.
Can you even debate these things?
This is an important tweet. Thought experiments are all well and good, but they need to stay within the realm of, well, thought experiments. Anyone faced with one of these difficult conundrums in the real world will likely find that it’s more than just a binary choice.
What if it really happens?
This person says they know someone who this happened to. Unsurprisingly, the ordeal seriously messed the dad up. It’s truly unfortunate, but understandable from a psychological perspective, that he would end up resenting the baby.
There’s a religious angle.
This tweet, and some others, hew perhaps uncomfortably close to the abortion debate. To answer their question: no, I wouldn’t automatically save a one-year-old baby while sacrificing my own life, just because I’ve lived longer. I guess I’m just selfish like that.
This is a levelheaded way of looking at it.
Many people know all too well the pain of losing a baby. It’s very common, in fact: 10 to 15% of pregnancies end in miscarriage . It could be argued, even if it’s a tad insensitive, that it’s a greater tragedy for a mother to die in childbirth than it is for a baby to die.
Let’s end this on a positive note.
Honestly, this debate just goes on forever, so head on over to Twitter to unpack it if you feel like it. We’re going to conclude things with Gabrielle’s follow-up tweet, showing her husband gazing adoringly at his happy, healthy wife and newborn baby.
