Would you take a bullet?

Imagine the scene; you are in the middle of a crowd, suddenly panic breaks out as a man is holding a gun and pointing it at a 9 year old child announcing that he will shoot the child unless he gets what he wants. Now imagine you are the closest person to the man and the child and you know whether he gets what he wants or not he is going to shoot.

What do you do? Keep quiet and still? He has threatened to shoot the child and yes, that is a tragedy and yes it is a very evil but at the end of the day you do not wish to loose you life. Or do you step in and try to save the child? You have had a good life, the child is innocent and still has life to live and therefore it only seems fair that the child is allowed to live.

As harsh as it sounds I am really not sure how I would react, I feel if I didn't do it I would not be able to live with the guilt or the shame I may get from other people around me who would see it as selfish.

But how about you?

I still have a minor child, so I want to be here for him. I feel like without me, he would not get the right direction. Once he is an adult, I don't know how I would react in that situation. Being totally candid, I will admit, I only like about 20 percent of the people I meet. So, chances are good the kid in question would grow up to be somebody I don't like much, so why give my life for that and miss out on my grandchildren?

Your scenario is one that I hope I have the courage to do if it ever occurs.

I have had a good life - what a way to end it.

I would probably attempt to get the gun from him. I have done as much in the psych hospital when I grabbed the arm of this patient who had a blade and was holding a smaller pateint. Stupid, impulsive move and I am glad my coworkers were right there on the other arm so that he couldn't switch and stab me in the back.

Tony Marino wrote:Imagine the scene; you are in the middle of a crowd, suddenly panic breaks out as a man is holding a gun and pointing it at a 9 year old child announcing that he will shoot the child unless he gets what he wants. Now imagine you are the closest person to the man and the child and you know whether he gets what he wants or not he is going to shoot.

What do you do? Keep quiet and still? He has threatened to shoot the child and yes, that is a tragedy and yes it is a very evil but at the end of the day you do not wish to loose you life. Or do you step in and try to save the child? You have had a good life, the child is innocent and still has life to live and therefore it only seems fair that the child is allowed to live.

As harsh as it sounds I am really not sure how I would react, I feel if I didn't do it I would not be able to live with the guilt or the shame I may get from other people around me who would see it as selfish.

But how about you?

It's not harsh at all Tony. You're being honest and rational in that who can really say for sure what they would do? I'd be much more skeptical of someone who insisted that they know they'd do something heroic. I think if NY were here she'd tell us she was sure that she wouldn't (presuming the kid wasn't hers).

The way you are asking the question sounds like it's a matter of it would be either the child's life or mine but there is no guarantee that either one of us would survive so I would have to say no, I would not.

I know I could not move fast enough and about the best I could do would be to knock the guy over, the gun would go off and someone maybe the child or me or someone in the crowd would get killed.

Tony Marino wrote:Imagine the scene; you are in the middle of a crowd, suddenly panic breaks out as a man is holding a gun and pointing it at a 9 year old child announcing that he will shoot the child unless he gets what he wants. Now imagine you are the closest person to the man and the child and you know whether he gets what he wants or not he is going to shoot.

What do you do? Keep quiet and still? He has threatened to shoot the child and yes, that is a tragedy and yes it is a very evil but at the end of the day you do not wish to loose you life. Or do you step in and try to save the child? You have had a good life, the child is innocent and still has life to live and therefore it only seems fair that the child is allowed to live.

As harsh as it sounds I am really not sure how I would react, I feel if I didn't do it I would not be able to live with the guilt or the shame I may get from other people around me who would see it as selfish.

But how about you?

I will only jump in front of a bullet for my child. I would for my Mom, sister, or niece and nephew and boyfriend and his son if I wasn't the only parent for my child. She would be screwed if sent to her father. So now.... I only would die for my child.

I know i would. I have had 3 guns pulled on me.

I was a manager for Eckerd drugs and a guy had a gun wanting percocet. I kicked him out the bullet proof doors, and locked them... then pulled the fire alarm to alert outside customers of danger.

He threatened to shoot me thru the glass and i laughed, then he threatened to shoot his foot. I told him to "go ahead". And he did... he still wasnt getting percs.

After 9/11, I watched for any suspicious air passengers, and constantly had thoughts going thru my head of how i could attack them, even crushing the soda cans into points to get a sharp enough edge to cut someone...or trying to shove toothpaste up their nose to stiffle their breathing

So YEAH... I would try to save a child. I have lived a great life. Let the kid.

wants2laugh wrote:I know i would. I have had 3 guns pulled on me.

I was a manager for Eckerd drugs and a guy had a gun wanting percocet. I kicked him out the bullet proof doors, and locked them... then pulled the fire alarm to alert outside customers of danger.

He threatened to shoot me thru the glass and i laughed, then he threatened to shoot his foot. I told him to "go ahead". And he did... he still wasnt getting percs.

After 9/11, I watched for any suspicious air passengers, and constantly had thoughts going thru my head of how i could attack them, even crushing the soda cans into points to get a sharp enough edge to cut someone...or trying to shove toothpaste up their nose to stiffle their breathing

So YEAH... I would try to save a child. I have lived a great life. Let the kid.

But seriously, especially with regards to your story of the cammo wearing slug nutty screw loose where you work. I fear that if he ever did report for work locked and loaded that you would try to hit him with a 100 lb sack of mail. Please be careful!

Alan Smithee wrote:

But seriously, especially with regards to your story of the cammo wearing slug nutty screw loose where you work. I fear that if he ever did report for work locked and loaded that you would try to hit him with a 100 lb sack of mail. Please be careful!

Thanks for your concern, but Nah.. would never attempt to de-arm a postal worker. I'm serious-- THAT guy did 20yrs in the army, spent a few tours in vietnam, and is STILL in great shape-- he RUNS to work on nice days-- and lives over 10 miles away. So No... I'm running from him. Now a druggie, murderer, or an islamic fundamentalist, no problem---but a POSTAL WORKER? even the suicide bombers would run from them.

And you know I deeply respect the military, and the sacrifices vets have made. But on more than one occasion I have been asked to meet one "to talk about things before they get really out of control". I could tell u stories you would never believe. One more than one occasion I have had to refer one to the Employee Assistance Program for counseling. This guy tho never actually made any threats or anything. He is just up in arms and weird. LOL

Maybe it's the ones who don't make any noise are the ones you really have to watch.

Agreed.

On the second time that I had a gun pulled on me.. I was STILL a manager at Eckerds. This a$$hole loss prevention guy came into an Ocean City store to complain about a drawer that came up $6 short. I was covering a vacation for another manager and knew NOTHING about this store or the people--it was only a week assignment.

So this loss prevention guy makes me open the safe so he can count the money, go thru the records, starts counting various drawers from earlier. It was a sunday, and i hadn't made a deposit yet--the store had a very busy weekend. As he and I are going thru the safe.. a guy with a gun jumps over the "half wall" type of "office" and pulls a gun. He literally had a gun to my head screaming, and I looked at the LP guy and said, "You're loss prevention. Prevent this loss!" Because Eckerds was sooooo worried about losing $6, they wound up losing $6,000 that night. Eckerds was not worth losing my life over... but a 9yr old kid? sure. I'm pretty sure if the guy would have gone after a customer or something... i would have tried to do SOMETHING. hit him with a fire extinguisher after spraying his eyes with it. idk...

this question is making me think of all the times that I was "looking for danger" and playing out scenarios in my mind.

Alan Smithee wrote:

It's not harsh at all Tony. You're being honest and rational in that who can really say for sure what they would do? I'd be much more skeptical of someone who insisted that they know they'd do something heroic. I think if NY were here she'd tell us she was sure that she wouldn't (presuming the kid wasn't hers).

I think of my young nephews and I know for sure that I would take the bullet for either of them and I would hope that I felt the same for any child that would be in that type of dangerous situation.

I wanted you all to really think about this one before answering. There are some really good replies here, anyone else?

WTL can you and I publish your memoirs someday, you have had such an interesting life

I believe I'd only jump in front if it was my child or if they were my niece or nephew.

Tony Marino wrote:I wanted you all to really think about this one before answering. There are some really good replies here, anyone else?

WTL can you and I publish your memoirs someday, you have had such an interesting life

HAHAHAHA! that's not the first time I've heard that. Makes me wonder just how "different" my life is from everyone else's.

LOL.

I would do my best to send telepathic messages to the guy not to harm little Timmy, but he's basically going to be on his own.