Moral Dilemma

You are in Paris visiting the Louvre, the most famous art museum in the world. As you spend time looking at the Mona Lisa, you strike up a conversation with an elderly lady standing next to you.


Ada Artlover is 92 years old. She recently lost her husband, but she has two daughters and many grandchildren. She has a wide circle of friends and a variety of interests. Ada uses a motorized wheelchair to get around. She lives in an assisted care facility for elderly people.

Suddenly a fire breaks out. You can save Mrs. Artlover or you can save the Mona Lisa, but you CAN NOT SAVE BOTH. Make the decision and save one or the other.


Later the police have brought you in for questioning. You have been asked to write a detailed explanation of your decision. Provide four or five reasons to support your course of action.


The decision is simple, I would save the 92 year old mother, and grandmother. This might be a hard decision for some art historians, but for someone like me, who appreciates both art and history, I will still put anyone's life before a painting any day. 
The reason that would convince me the most to save Ada Artlover is because she has a family that loves her very much. Even though she is very old and can't mobilize very well, she has daughters and grandchildren that would much rather see a painting burn, than their mother, or grandmother. You can easily get over a painting, the death of a family member, isn't so easy to get over. 
Even though Mona Lisa is a painting with a very interesting history behind it, and was painted by a very well known painter, a life will always be more important. The Mona Lisa will always be remembered, and there are many pictures taken of this painting that help us remember. The Mona Lisa has been around for the past 500 hundred or so years, I am sure that the legend will still remain, where as Mrs. Artlover has only been around for 92, and might not even be able to be around for a fifth of a time that the Mona Lisa has been around. 
I also think that it would be much more rewarding saving a life, than a painting. If I was to look back on this ten years later, I would still think that saving Mrs. Artlover over the painting would be a lot more satisfactory. 
When you see the Mona Lisa it is so well secured that no one can steal it, and because of this, I also think that it would be hard to save it in a fire. 
I think that the most awful death is to be burned. For one, sometimes you aren't left with a body to bury, and for some families, having a body to bury is a form of closure. Also, it must feel awful to be burned to death, waiting for the flames to take over your body. 
Lastly, I would that if my grandmother is a burning building, they would do the same for me as I did for Mrs. Artlover's family, and save my grandma over a painting. "Treat other's the way, you want to be treated." Everyone has the right to live, even old people.