Who Lives? Who Dies?

In the current social television setting, of The Walking Dead (those who have the will to survive), Survivor (those who can keep from being eliminated), and with the talk of potential and future ‘death panels” monitored by insurance companies, I thought this interesting.

I trust you will as well.

During my first tour of college, I registered for a Sociology course.

Loved that class.

One of the exercises we had to perform was for the class to break up into three groups, of which in the group you could not be in a group with someone you knew well.

We were then given a list and description of fifteen fictional people and the following instructions.

The following persons are in a nuclear bomb shelter.  A nuclear attack has occurred.  These fifteen persons are the only humans alive on Earth.  It will take two weeks for the external radiation to drop to a safe survival level.  The food and supplies in the shelter can barely sustain seven persons for two weeks.  In brief, only seven persons can minimally survive.  It is the task of the group to decide which seven of the following persons should survive.

Easy enough?

These profiles were built back several years ago.

In this day of modern technology and newly created industries, the updated profiles would look different than these.

However, take these profiles, and either by yourself, or for even more involvement, gather a group of people together and hand out the profiles and then start deciding who lives and who dies.

It will be tougher than you think.

And in a group setting, people will become very passionate and emotional regarding the list of survivors.

Key: In your group.  There must be total and unanimous consensus among the group.  All must agree.

Then for fun, pick the person from among your group that will have the responsibility of telling those who will not survive and how they will be euthanized.

These seven people will be those who re-build society.

To procreate, govern, enforce the laws,  re-establish religion, if in fact religion is re-established at all.

They must rebuild the world.

Who do you want to do that?

Here are the profiles.

1. Mr. Dane:  29, Caucasian, no religious affiliation, Ph.D., in History, college professor, good health, married, one child (Bobby), active and enjoys politics.

2. Mrs. Dane: 28, Caucasian, Jewish, AB and MA in Psychology, counselor in mental health clinic, good health, married, one child (Bobby), active in community.

3. Bobby Dane: 10 years old, Caucasian, Jewish, special education classes for four years, mentally handicapped, IQ 70, good health, enjoys pets.

4. Mrs. Garcia: 33, Spanish American, Roman Catholic, 9th grade education, cocktail waitress, prostitute, good health, married at 16, divorced at 18, abandoned as a child, in foster home as youth,    sexually abused by foster father at age 12, ran away from home, returned to juvenile detention center, stayed until age 16, has one child, 3 weeks old (Jean).

5. Jean Garcia: 3 weeks old, Spanish American, good health, nursing for food.

6. Mrs. Evans: 32, African American, Protestant, AB and MA in elementary education, teacher, divorced, 1 child (Mary), good health, cited as outstanding teacher, enjoys working with children.

7. Mary Evans: 8, African American, Protestant, 3rd grade, good health, excellent student.

8. John Jacobs: 13, Caucasian, Protestant, 8th grade, honor student, very active broad interests, including information technology, father is a Baptist minister.

9. Mr. Newton: 25, African American, good health, claims to be an atheist, started last year in medicine – suspended, homosexual, seems bitter concerning racial problems, wears outdated hippy clothes.  Though he claims to be an atheist, he is a student of Muslim teachings.

10. Mrs. Clark: 28, African American, Protestant, college graduate in Engineering Electronics, engineer, married, no children, good health, enjoys outdoor sports and audio and video equipment, grew up in poverty.

11. Sister May Kathleen: 27, Non, college graduate as an English major, grew up in upper middle class neighborhood, good health, father was an Apple shareholder.

12. Mr. Blake: 51, Caucasian, Mormon, high school graduate, mechanic, “Mr. Fix It”, married, 4 children (not with), good health, enjoys outdoors and working in his shop.

13. Miss Harris: 21, Spanish American, Protestant, college senior, Nursing major, good health, enjoys sports, like people.

14: Father Frenz: 37, Caucasian, Catholic, college plus seminary, priest, active in civil rights, criticized for liberal views, good health, former college athlete.

15. Dr. Gonzales:, Spanish American, Catholic, medical doctor in general practice, has had 2 heart attacks in past five years but continues to practice.

Who lives?

Who dies?

We would welcome your comments, input and results.

John