Why do you think he did it? (Just give it a try.)

[dcabsdkjabhkjdfa]

i think he didnt give himself a though he just wanted to save the lady
his sanity his religon nothing like that would have anything to do with it if he had lived his life risking himself for other people
its just what he knew how to do from his old life
he did it out of love for people
i think even if his family was alive he would stilll save that lady  

[Ms Jenna_ Lee]

KamikazeSkies

DISCLAIMER: This involves some violence, but only what's necessary to get the question across clearly.

There's a man, mid-30s. A very successful man, he is. Beautiful wife, three model kids, and a job raking in $125,000 a year. Anything and everything he wants, he has. Not to mention a heart of gold, where he would put anyone's well-being in front of his own.

One day, his world crashes. His wife and three children get killed in a car accident on the way home from school. The man loses sight of who he is, and also his mind, soon resulting in the loss of his job.

Living a life way below the American average, the man contemplates suicide. He tries, but never can get the courage to finish himself. He instead grows weaker and weaker while the thoughts get stronger.

While walking through the city, he hears a scream from a nearby alley. A woman is being robbed by a crook at gunpoint. Now the man thinks to himself for a split second. What he thinks, that part is unknown. But as a result of that thought, he runs and confronts the crook. This gives the woman a chance to escape, but at the cost of his own life.

The man is shot within seconds.

...But don't forget, this man had constant thoughts of suicide, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

So now the man is dead.
But what were his reasons for confronting the gunman?
- Did he see an opportunity to save someone else's life from being shattered like his own?
OR
- Did he simply see it as a way to die without having to do it himself?


This has no definate answer, it's all in the way you view things.
Take a second to think about it fully.
Remember:
- The man lost everything he had.
- The thoughts kept getting stronger.
- He put anyone before him.
- All of his thoughts, except the ones of suicide, are unknown.

This is a question that I personally thought of, be courteous and don't post it for yourself without giving me credit of some sort, or at least asking.
Please, only intelligent answers.

i think that the man was both because even though he didnt want someone else's life to be shattered like his was he wasnt strong enough to commit sucide himself even though his thoughts on the subject were probably very strong his body mightve been weak so he couldntve did it himself but with the saving someone else's life that part of him mightve still been in contact with his mind so it couldve been a reflex cause he probably knew he didnt want it to happen to anyone else..thats just what i think but for coming up with the question it was a good question made me think good job biggrin  

[Jay Robyn]

Calypsophia

perhaps it would be both. perhaps on one hand he's thinking... 'there's someone in trouble.. it's someone elses wife or daughter... maybe there's a reason for me to be here after all.. to help them... but I could die... and if I die at least it will be in an honorable way and my suffering will be over.'

he had nothing to lose and some little bit of dignity to gain.

I agree with calypsophia.  

[Threedom the Nar-Whal]

I believe that he himself could not kill himself, but he did still have reasonable thought, so he could decipher what the 'right' thing to do in that situation. By saving the woman he in turn died and also saved someone's life, like hitting 2 birds with one stone.  

[[ Poisoned Muffin ]]

I think he thought both.
When he saw the woman getting robbed, he knew he had to help her.
The only reaction he could think of to save her was jumping infront of her to save her, knowing he'd be risking his life at the same time..

 

[turtlegirl100]

Calypsophia

perhaps it would be both. perhaps on one hand he's thinking... 'there's someone in trouble.. it's someone elses wife or daughter... maybe there's a reason for me to be here after all.. to help them... but I could die... and if I die at least it will be in an honorable way and my suffering will be over.'

he had nothing to lose and some little bit of dignity to gain.

agreed.

 

[Jashana]

Quote:

While walking through the city, he hears a scream from a nearby alley. A woman is being robbed by a crook at gunpoint. Now the man thinks to himself for a split second. What he thinks, that part is unknown.

That split second with the unknown thought and his past behavior are clues into his future behavior.

I like to think the "thought" was somebody needs help or else the fact that he had nothing to lose by helping - in which case he was still out to help her - for whatever motives.

And it is by helping others that helps get rid of some depression, although I'm sure that wasn't part of his thinking process.  

[poggles]

Out of those two options, I think he'd be saving the woman.

Reasons:
Just because you think about suicide, even attempt it, doesn't mean you're going to dive at the first chance to get murdered...getting murdered (shot) would suck and is a crappy way to go.

Plus, I always thought suicide was about escaping a crappy life. It's not much of an escape to have someone shoot you, especially if you don't know what they're aiming to shoot. Maybe the shooter wouldn't even try to kill him?

He may have thought "this woman is in trouble and needs help" but there's no way he could have thought "if I go and save her that man will shoot and kill me", because he wouldn't know.

It is possible he thought something along the lines of "This woman is worth more than me and probably has a better life, who cares if I get killed for saving her?" and then jumped in with no further thought, which is what I think is most likely. That opinion wasn't an option in the poll, but the closest one was "for the woman" so that's what I picked smile  

[FoxDemonNarutoGurl]

he did it so he could die and save a life so he wasn't just helping him self but dieing with a good reason that he would be able to live with after he died burning_eyes  

[Esme Eames]

I say it was a mixture of both thoughts. He wouldn't want the woman to get robbed, but he didn't really want to live. Maybe before he wouldn't have helped in fear of losing his own life, but now that he didn't want to live he was more eager to help out. stare  

[PelicanBlack]

Even if he was having suicidal thoughts, the kind of person you made him out to be would save the woman. Maybe he knew he would die saving her, and just wanted to perform a good deed before he bit the metaphorical dust. People are strange creatures and sometimes their actions cannot be explained.  

[Lewn]

I think it was both.
He probably thought of the woman's well being, because he knew that if she died someone else in the world would be like him, who had lost someone very special like a mother or a wife.
But he also did it for his own reasons because he didn't want to suffer anymore. It seemed like a good way to go, saving someone else's life.  

[personal preference]

I think it's the latter option because I think the first one is a bit too sugar-coated...
I mean, the world isn't as we want it to be; not everyone is nice all the time unfortunately. I think he knew that the woman was going to die, but I don't think that's what drove him to save her. Face it: humans are more selfish that we'd like to admit. I think he prioritized himself instead of the woman that was being held at gunpoint.

Either that, or it's my pessimism speaking.

 

[Chill Brahh]

I think his initial intent was to save the woman. That was the scene playing right before his eyes; he saw someone in trouble and his mind immediately thought of doing anything to rectify the situation at hand. The part about him being "put out of his misery" was just a bonus in the end, the thought may not have even crossed his mind. In my head, I think everything happened way too rapidly for him to register more than one side of the situation. He either thought about the woman or about himself, but not both. And I'd like to believe he thought of the woman.

 

[__deactivated24601]

I believe that he did it because he wanted to save a life. Maybe he saw part of his wife in the woman. The fact that he wasn't able to save his own wife probably tormented him, and this was some sort of way to do something to redeem himself. Also, it was said that he had a heart of gold. Although everyone becomes a different person than we initally were before, old habits die hard. His instinct of putting others before him probably chose to make its reappearance at that moment.