The Meaning of Pity and Mercy...what is the RIGHT thing to do?

[dragongirlG]

lol, ok, sorry about the double post thing

Kalla, hon, there's an edit post button above everyone's post. It looks like a key. (Don't be embarrassed; everyone was a newbie once.)

Getting back on topic...

These are all very good questions, and it's natural to go by your values and philosophies on answering. But I don't believe anyone can truly know what he or she would do until the person was faced with this situation. As is said in the movie Minority Report:

There's only one flaw. It's human.

Everything one knows, believes, and lives by can be lost in the instant that he or she is faced with this situation. One cannot live by philosophy alone. It is highly probable that, if faced with this situation with a serial killer, a person would change his/her mind. Many times a person believes "Oh, I'll never kill anyone!" but at that moment the person might say, "This person has killed tons of innocent people. Must I be the one to let him hurt again? Must I be the one responsible for many other innocent deaths, while this person is guilty for crime?" In a do-or-die situation, it all depends on you. Your choices, your decisions, your results. This killer could kill your friends, your family, and you. And you have no help from the police or anyone. It all depends on you. The serial killer argument is best summed up in Naaramare's response.

The serial killer, however . . . liken that more to allowing Saruman will all his powers to walk free. Liken it to Gandalf nodding at the gates of Orthanc and simply walking away; not locking Saruman in, not breaking his staff and stripping his powers, simply leaving him in possession of his tower, his arts and the remains of his army.

Excellent!

Jessica's original post asked what we would do if we were in a do-or-die situation with a treacherous creature. I believe that this depends on who is about to kill you. If you can realize the past, the murderer's past that led up to all this, and see that he/she is miserable and is not content being evil and killing, then perhaps you would spare this person a chance. But if you were with someone you hardly knew about, and was just about to kill you out of sheer malice, random violence, would you let this person go free? Would you let this person go commit more crimes, go hurt other innocent people?

It is said that we have an obligation to spare all life, to save all life. To spare would mean to let a murderer go free with his weapon; to save would mean to kill this murderer and let innocent lives go free of harm. The issue is complex.

Gollum was a very special situation, in which Frodo could see his future, the creature that he could potentially become. Therefore, he spared Gollum's life. But do you believe there are truly people like Gollum? Or that in this instant one would realize that, in a do-or-die situation? Frodo had an advantage; he knew about Gollum's past and the reason for Gollum's assault. But we go to the same question: how do we know? How would we know if this was a Gollum or a Saruman?

To sum up my point, I believe that the answer can only depend on what you do do when you are faced with the situation. What would you do, many can answer: I would save his life. I would show mercy. But, when you were faced with the actual situation, what did you do?