SSB Lecturette Series: Live and Let die

Live and let die

‘When you were young

And your heart was an open book,

You used to say, live and let live.

But in this ever changing world that we live in

Wants to give in and cry,

Live and let die’

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So goes the famous song by The Beatles. But there is a philosophical angle to the phrase ‘live and let die’. This is a philosophy that emphasizes on the right of an individual to live her or his own life, but one is not obligated to be responsible for other’s lives. This rises from personal interests taking a higher priority over societal norms of helping, sharing and caring for humanity in general.

This philosophy can be explained using the help of certain case studies. One interesting one is as follows: Assume a hypothetical situation that you are a middle class man with only one luxury in your life, your mint condition luxury car. You take your car out for a ride on one Sunday afternoon and find a man wounded on his leg at the side of the road. When you ask the man how he got into this situation, he replies saying that he was so engrossed in bird watching that he carelessly tripped on a rusted barbed wire and wounded himself. Now, he assures you that his life is not at danger but the excessive bleeding may cause his wounded leg to get amputated. Now, you have a choice of taking the man to the nearest hospital and saving a loss of his leg. But, in the process, you spoil the seats of your mint condition car with the man’s blood. When you choose to drive away leaving the man to figure out something for himself, you choose to live and let die! In this case, the man chose his personal interests over the life of another person.

This philosophy is in some ways a result of a decadent society, where the stakeholders in a society have lost their trust in the values of humanity. This philosophy in some way explains the mind-set of a majority of people in the times of ‘Kalyug’. There is a feeling of indifference to other people’s feelings and breaks down the good feelings of compassion and empathy among the humankind.

But this philosophy is totally justified and legal as no laws are being broken if one refuses to offer help to another person. But this philosophy is used to justify a major social stigma in the modern times: abortion. According to this, the life of the woman to live her life better is much more valued than the life of the unborn foetus. This is a skewed representation of this philosophy. Because, in my opinion, this philosophy is justified till one is not responsible for the life of the other stakeholder in any way. Although abortions are not legally wrong and every woman has the right to take a decision to either keep the pregnancy or not, the ethical justification of abortions using the philosophy of live and let die is wrong, since the woman is responsible for the life of the foetus. So, I feel that skewing this philosophy to gain a moral high ground on a sensitive issue is wrong.

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So, in conclusion, it is evident that in these modern times, live and let die is a pragmatic philosophy where one’s personal interests take a higher priority than the moral and societal obligations of the person.

To live and let live is selfless, but to live and let die is just human.

About the Author : Albin Jose did his schooling from Noida and completed his B.Tech from IIT Madras and currently working with an education based-firm in Mumbai. In free time, he like to read and go on treks in and around Mumbai. Through his articles he want to spread awareness among the aspirants.