Nyamaza wrote:Kind of a segue, but this reminded me some something i heard on the radio.
A lady was talking about growing up in the Catholic tradition, and learning about martyrs and martyrdom. She was even instructed as a child to pray for a martyr's death, to hope to die at the hands of athiests for defending her faith.
Ignoring all the ethical issues of teaching 8 and 9 year olds to pray for their own death, I started to wonder... can one BE a martyr, if you WANT to die? As I look at it, Martyrs are considered "holy" or admirable because they were willing to suffer for what they believed. Ghandi, for example, was willing to endure a hell of alot of pain to make his point and change things.
If a "martyr" WELCOMES their death, if they WANT to have a "martyr's death", then can they truely be said to be suffering? Can they be said to be martyrs?
I read a wonderful way of looking at martyrdom, heroism, and the general class of feelings related to giving up one's life for any reason great enough in the epic Japanese novel Musashi:
(paraphrased due to lack of a handy copy)
Your life is like a precious gem. Guard it carefully, and, should you give it up, do so with great care that you are doing so for the right reasons, and with great regret.
It is, using this definition, possible to want to give up one's life and still be a martyr. Understanding the full nature of the gravity of this decision, but still believing that the bargain of the value of one's life against what one can do by giving it up is a good one, is still noble.
HOWEVER, that said, martyrdom isn't usually something that counts for BEANS. It's cheap theater with a high price tag. On a planet this densely populated, people die so often that one more isn't going to make more than a few intellectuals turn their heads. If that.
It has, in our history, been worth it. But not often. Wishing for a martyr's death is foolish, because most martyr's deaths are worthless. Wishing for a worthy martyr's death is a little less foolish, but also very unlikely to come true.
At least, that's how I see it.
Griffin, incidentially, views her life not so much like a precious gem as perhaps a particularly shoddy paper airplane.
Made out of a napkin.
She's a very unfortunate opponent to have indeed, however, because she's trying to see how many eyes she can poke out with it before the tip goes all wonky.
