What would I do?

by Constantine

It's a cold winter day, there's ice and snow in the streets that have been causing accidents, power outages and a variety of emergencies across the city. Sirens are heard everywhere and you think to yourself "god" must be playing with his ant farm. As you continue to walk home, with some difficulty, you hear screams for help. You alter course and walk towards the screams and you see a building with smoke pouring from the roof, and fire coming from all of the windows. You make your way inside and see the building is falling apart. Being the brave soul you are, you rush towards the screaming and see a handicapped elderly man who's been screaming, and an infant laying on the floor by his walker. Both need you to help them out of the building, but it looks as if it will collapse at any minute. The man is crying and saying "I don't want to die", the infant, is laying there unaware of the chaos and danger in the surrounding environment. After weighing your options and the environment around you, you realize you can only save one. Who do you save?

I would save the elderly man. Why? Here's the reason: because in the story, the old man spoke to me and said that he didn't want to die, and if I chose to save the infant, I would always hear this man's cries for help in my head for the rest of my life. And frankly, I don't have any particular feeling towards babies or children. Ok, that was the selfish reason. Here is the real reason:

The baby hasn't made any impact on it's karma here on earth yet. It remains, so to speak, at a balance. The old man, on the other hand, has made lots of life contracts, impacted many people's lives, created debt to the world just by existing and being taken care of by others. If he is saved from death, he still has a chance to pay back some of the debt, change his life with the remaining time he has left. Maybe that means he is kinder to his family or maybe he will write his memoires and have a positive effect in someone's life, or perhaps he can have a chance to resolve the conflicts and loose ends of his life before he dies. If he dies in the fire, unwilling, terrified and with strong emotions for the life that he's lived here on earth, chances are these strong feelings will yank him right back into a human body to do it all over again.

I believe that life on earth is a trap. A small prison for souls. It would be fine if we learned our lessons in the lifetime we are given. But it's not enough. We waste our time here and then when we die, we have to come back and try again.The infant, may get killed in the fire and when its soul is released, it may decide not to be reincarnated. Then, it would be free.

I could rest at night knowing that I believed my decision gave both the old man and the baby a second chance.