Morality or Survival

Imagine yourself in a situation wherein you’re in a cruise but suddenly the ship gets wrecked and
you are stuck in an island with two strangers. You search the entire island for food, but you
found nothing. The sea is also dead; there are no fishes swarming to be eaten. Your only choice
is to eat your companions. Would you do it? Would you eat them to survive?

Now some may disagree with me but I would choose not to eat my companions, even if they are
strangers to me. I would rather die of starvation or find other ways to escape the island rather
than causing more harm or making the situation worse. Personally, I could do it but just because
you can do something doesn’t mean you have to, need to, should and must do it.

Choosing morality over survival is a common choice. Morality is basing and choosing between
what is right from what is wrong and what is good from what is bad. Survival, on the other hand,
is a choice. It is the state or fact of continuing to live, survive and exist, in spite of problems and
accidents. The best example of this is our Lord Jesus Christ. He chose to die for us, even if he
can choose not to. He forgave us from our sins, even if we just do it over and over again. If he
can do it for us, then why don’t we do it to others and for others as well?

Yes, we can easily say that morality is the right choice, the right path, but if we are faced with
the situation, would we do the same? They may say that we are blessed, or at least more blessed,
in life, that is why we choose morality over survival because we do not know the feeling of
facing a situation where you would just love to sleep the pain away. If we do not choose survival,
that’s like saying you are giving up, you are weak and that you do not value yourself anymore.
These may be some of the reasons why people might choose survival over morality and I agree
with most of them, but choosing to do what is wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it. And
what’s right is right, even if no one is doing it. Choosing to do the right thing may be hard, but in
the end, if it is the right choice, then the results may be beneficial to many and also possibly to
oneself.

Imagine what our world would be like without morality. Would the people still care about
someone else besides themselves? If not, then that’s not living at all. Your life is not just yours,
and your decisions can and will affect the choice and the lives of other people because you are
not the only person existing in this world. We must always keep in mind that we are free to
choose, but we are never free from the consequences of our decisions.