[Mountaindewed]

And then feel bad when you say no or question yourself?

Like would you risk your life and cause imminent death to yourself as long as your nephews life was saved?

I can’t always answer those questions correctly. Even though those scenarios will probably never happen.

[unaluna]

You might surprise yourself in an actual situation. I was in my apartment swimming pool a few years ago with a young couple. They were in the deep end but really should not have been. The guy started having trouble, and i thought to myself, i cant stand here and let this guy just die. Unfortunately, i did not make the best decisions after that, and then had to call for help myself, and fortunately someone was there to pull us both to safety.

I didnt want to hear anyone say "drown" out of the context of water after that (i was all like, thats not drowning! Its serious!), but im okay now, and i learned what to do if it ever happens again, and i still consider myself a hero

[*Beth*]

Yes, I ask myself those questions...it feels similar to an obsessive habit to me. I hate when I do it because it's dumb and, like unaluna pointed out we really don't know. Sometimes I tend to ask myself those kinds of questions more when I'm depressed.

[downandlonely]

I do sometimes. Like would I give my life for someone else. Or would I ever have an abortion?

I have donated blood and am on the bone marrow donor list, so I'm willing to do those things.

[Misterpain]

AS a retired Paramedic / Firefighter I have and would "put it on the line" for another human being , they don't have to be related or someone I know from a can of paint ,if they need help ,I will try and be that help . Crazy I know but that's how I came wired from the factory .

I don't want money or fame ,I just want everyone to live in peace ,as their best version of themselves. There are some recent public figures that I detested , and I said to some friends "if they were on fire,i wouldnt urinate on them " and was immediately told i was full of it ,no matter how or what i felt about that person "training & Instict" are not something you can overcome on a moment's notice , the idea to "sit back and watch ,don't get involved" is not something natural ,it's a completely alien thing ,that I have never done ,so it would not be my reaction if it goes against everything I have done for 50 years .

However if your not wired or trained for that ,don't consider it a fail of any kind, if your not quick to think on your feet and have everything you trained for to give that victim an "out safely" you are better to do nothing , the first "rule" of first responders is dont be the first victim ( because then you have worsened the situation unintentionaly) you can't save someone from drowning if you can't swim , or if its freezing cold and don't have an immersion suit , it takes about 5 minutes for your body to shut down and your brain function to go up ,so you think about everything you can do to fix the situation that your body will no longer support,including Dumb ***** you shouldnt have jumped in without an imersion suit and other rescuers near by or on the way ,in case you can't make the grab and get out .

Everything in this life is choices ,you make educated guesses and hope it works out ,even reading me blather is a choice ,you could net flix and chill and not have to think about what I am saying, so if you don't have the knowledge to complete a task ,don't fault yourself .

If the house was on fire and the fire department was there and you heard that a firefighter was trapped and needed help ( we have heavy rescue companies to save our butts) would you as someone who escaped the inferno say "I can save him" I don't have tools , bunker gear , or air like guy whose trapped to protect me from the fire ,but I am "gonna go for it" ,that would not end well for you , or me because the guys now have 2 too many victims in different places to help which means less mind and muscle devoted to getting us both out , i could need the guy saving you because he remembers some little detail he read in training for my sitituation that everybody else doesnt ? But since he saved you ,i am toast ,i signed up to do that knowing each time out the door could end with the department chaplin and and officer consoling my wife ,she also signed on when she married a firefighter ,her choice .

So don't give yourself hypothetical challenges that are pass/fail ,you really don't know how you will react in the moment ,until that moment of choice actually happens ,and neither choice you make has to end in a happy ending or fairy tale that you remember for ever ( and so does everyone else ) until they don't. That's a whole nother long talk ,when your suddenly a zero but just yesterday you were a hero ?

Peace

[downandlonely]

It's true that you can't know for sure until you're in the situation.

Good post, Misterpain.

[Nammu]

Socrates said, know thyself.

If you are not wired that way, it’s not a fail, it’s how you are. Mister pain said it very well.

[eskielover]

No. I don't bother with hypothetical anything. If something come up in my life I deal with the situation when it happens & make my decisions based totally on the situation not on something I may have hypothetically thought I would do. Too many things I am dealing with in life to sit around wasting my time on what I might hypothetically do IF something happens. I live my life in the NOW.

[WastingAsparagus]

There is the famous "trolley problem" in philosophy (I won't go into detail about what it is here).