Opening page…
The pond and the distance
You would ruin an expensive suit to pull a drowning child from a pond. Does the child dying far away have a weaker claim on you?
Distance changes what you can see. Does it change what you owe?
Your answer
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A little context
Most of us have walked past an appeal for a faraway famine, a poster at the station or a link in a feed, felt a small twinge, and kept going. Most of us also believe we would wade into a pond without a second thought if a child were drowning in front of us. The need is the same. Only the distance changes, and the question is whether distance changes anything that matters.
Read alongside it1
ReadingThe shallow pondIf I am walking past a shallow pond and see a child drowning, I ought to wade in and pull the child out. This will mean getting my clothes muddy, but that is insignificant, while the death of the child would presumably be a very bad thing.
If I am walking past a shallow pond and see a child drowning, I ought to wade in and pull the child out. This will mean getting my clothes muddy, but that is insignificant, while the death of the child would presumably be a very bad thing.
Nearby questions
- Does nature matter for its own sake?Picture a forest that vanishes without a single person or animal ever noticing or suffering.
- Is it wrong to eat animals?The animal on your plate could feel pain and fear. If you had to kill it yourself, you would find out what you really think.
- Can a deal be unfair if both sides agree to it?A desperate person accepts poverty wages, or sells a kidney, because every other option is worse. They chose it, and it may still be exploitation.
- The coin flipTwo drivers leave the same party equally drunk. A child runs into the road in front of one, who kills the child; the other gets home without hurting anyone. Do they deserve different blame?
- Do the ends justify the means?Sometimes the only way to stop something terrible is to do something terrible yourself. Even then, your hands are not quite clean.
