A recent question posed in our local Toastmasters club was this:
“Would you break the law in order to save someone’s life?”
My initial reaction was “of course.” It wasn’t the question given to me, but I sat there considering it as if it had been. The next thing that jumped into my head was the thought that the value of human life is above the law. However, to what extent does that hold true and to what degree do people hold that as a personal moral?
Recently a man was put to death in the United States as part of a death penalty conviction for the rape and murder of a woman who was pregnant. That man’s life was taken within the (questionably) acceptable norms of the law. Was that human life beneath the law any more than the woman and unborn child he murdered were above it? Many would argue it was, many would argue it wasn’t; that’s the crux of the entire death penalty debate.
Do we then fall into the question of if it’s a life worth saving? Ignoring the path of a Death Penalty for the moment, should we analyze a situation quickly and determine if it’s worth breaking a law to save a life or letting the person die? Excluding the penal system and it’s death penalty for the sake of this argument, would you break the law to save a life?
Must we think about the law that might be broken? Does it matter? What is more important, saving a life or making sure we as an individual don’t incur the wrath of the legal system?
A man defies police orders and rushes back into a burning building trying to save the life of a son or daughter. Did that father break any laws? It might be argued they violated a direct police order, failed to follow police directions but was it really breaking any law?
Another man disregards a no trespassing sign to help an injured ATV rider. Or how about this one; a man with a valid concealed carry permit, who is carrying his firearm, reacts to a school shooting next to his house, enters the school grounds and subdues the murderer long before the police can arrive. This man will surely go to jail; he broke the law by entering a posted gun free and no shooting zone and discharged a firearm on the premises. Did he save lives? Did he do the right thing? Would he go to jail? Should he?
The reactionary who took out the murderer may have saved countless other lives, both school children and faculty. Was his action of breaking the law justified in an attempt to save others? Or should he have stayed in his house, cowering in his own home as he continued to hear shot, after shot, after shot, believing murder was taking place, waiting the long minutes it takes for the police to arrive. Would that person feel pain and anguish for the rest of their lives wondering if they could have made a difference? Wondering if their actions could have saved lives even at the risk of their own?
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