by Chris Torgersen

Created on: June 10, 2009

Life occasionally presents us with difficult, seemingly impossible choices. We are forced by circumstance to choose between one form of agony and another, to be burned by fire or be frozen by cold. How do we make these decisions, and how responsible are we for their outcomes?

Imagine that you are faced with a Sophie's Choice situation. You have two children, Child A and Child B, and you must decide which of them will live and which of them will die. What criteria do you use to make your decision? Do you simply flip a coin, and if so, does that absolve you of any responsibility for the choice? Do you try to approach it rationally, reasoning out which sacrifice would be the greater loss or which life would be the greatest gain for yourself or the world?

Whatever way you go about making the choice, you are ultimately fully responsible for it. The death of one child falls squarely on your shoulders. However, the saving of one child's life falls there equally. It is your burden to bear. Does this sound unfair? After all, someone or something has placed you in this impossible situation. It isn't your fault, is it?

No, of course not. The fact that you are in such a situation is not your fault at all. However, the choice you make is entirely yours. Even if you refuse to make the choice, your abdication is on your shoulders. It matters not whether the situation was forced on you or you got yourself into it. What you do with the situation you are in is fully on you.

By what reasoning? By this: Your decision, whatever it is and however it is made, is a necessity for the carrying out of its consequences. Child A will be put to death only if you choose so, and Child B will live only if you choose so. Regardless of how you reached such a terrible crossroads, the journey forward is a choice you must make. It is a choice that you cannot escape, for every option has an outcome, and you are entering into this one knowing clearly what the outcomes are.

Let's try it with a somewhat less atrocious predicament. Imagine two young men, Zanzibar and Paco.

Zanzibar has grown up in a good neighborhood. His parents have a lot of money and sent him to the best schools. Though very bright, he did not apply himself very well and had mediocre grades. By virtue of his mother's connections, however, he got into a good college. He graduated around the middle of his class. Due to his school's superior reputation, he was able to land a well-paying job that required far less intelligence

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