This is an old email that I forward to people and it came back to me today..
I read it again anyway, and it made me think again.
What would you do?

a group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still
in
use
while the other disused.
Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the
operational
track.


The train came, and you were just beside the track interchange. You
could
make the train change its course to the disused track and saved most
of
the
kids.


However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused
track
would be sacrificed.


Or would you rather let the train go its way?


Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make.


Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and
sacrifice
only one child. You might think the same way, I guess.


Exactly, I thought the same way initially because to save most of the
children at the expense of only one child was the rational decision
most
people would make, morally and emotionally.


But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the
disused
track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?
Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends
who
chose to play where the danger was.


This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office,
community,
in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is
often
sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or
ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the
minority are.


The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational
track
was
sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a
tear
for
him.


The friend who forwarded me the story said he would not try to change
the
course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the
operational track should have known very well that track was still in
use,
and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens.
If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die
because
he
never thought the train could come over to that track!
Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe.

If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all
passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids
by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of
people to save these few kids.
While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need
to be made, we may not realise that hasty decisions may not always be the
right
> >one.

I agree with the paragraph below the story..

However, in life, most choices are not so clear cut.
Its not always this, or that.
In the case scenario of the train track,
we could shout at the children to run away,
or we could try and signal for the train to stop while shouting at the children..
This way the train would make noise and the children would realize it is there..
And blabla so on and so forth..