Ashutosh Pratap

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still inuse while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, therest on the operational track.
The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. Youcan make the train change its course to the disused track and save most ofthekids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by thedisused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Before Scroll down for answersLet’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 sacrificeonly one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, to save mostof the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision mostpeople would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought thatthe child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the rightdecision to play at a safe place?
Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends whochose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around useveryday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in ademocratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest ofthe majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and howfarsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose notto play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in thecasehe was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.
The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would notTry to change the course of the train because he believed that the kidsPlaying on the operational track should have known very well that track wasstill in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train’ssirens.. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die becausehe never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, thattrack was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train wasdiverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board atstake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, youmight 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 toBe made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be theRight one.
‘Remember that what’s right isn’t always popular… and what’s popularisn’t always right.’