DA Morgan wrote:
[QUOTE]Not one fireman running into the World Trade Center made a calculation about the celebrity that awaited if he got out alive. Not one person on United flight 93 tackled a hijacker out of egotism. I sure as heck didn't become a lifeguard because I expected to be on Shark Week. [QUOTE]

All of the above once again shows how easily we accept the fantasy of altruism. The firemen called to the World Trade Center didn?t have to think about whether or not they should do their job ? they just did it. Years before, they had already made the decision to take on the job of ?fireman?, knowing full well the risks and dangers. So, years before, they had already weighted up all the pros and cons, and had decided that their greatest satisfaction and happiness lay in this job.

The people who did tackle the hijackers on United Flight 93 also acted on deeply rooted instincts ? and yes, those instincts were egotistical.

When people feel threatened, some people fight back, whilst others surrender - fight or flight. You see this everyday, in all walks of life. Whichever way you end up acting, depends on your emotional attachments.

The people that fought back did so, because their greatest emotional satisfaction was to try to change what was happening, or to die in the trying. There would have been other people on that flight that did nothing to alter the situation, as they didn?t possess the same egotism as the ones that did act. If the plane had been saved, the ones who acted would have been pronounced heroes. And the ones that did not act would have been mostly ignored. As you can see, this is an entirely unfair situation, as both groups could only act from their different egotistical positions: that is, from their different emotional attachments. And these emotional attachments are as old as our species itself, and very hard to alter in any way.

[QUOTE]Sue's instincts are leading in the right direction but she goes off track and her conclusions are far from the mark.[QUOTE]

In what way do you think I've gone ?off track??

How are my conclusions ?far from the mark??

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Sue