Every human being is worth more than the worst act of his or her life. True or False?

Question

Regardless of how much damage or harm caused?

Answer 1

False. If a human being's worst act is an atrocity, it becomes difficult for another person to see anything about him or her beyond the act. I can't claim to be different. This is a difficult question to answer, but I just thought I would throw some points out there.

Many individuals' worst acts aren't all that bad...or at the very least, these people aren't beyond being redeemed. There are individuals out there who have been addicted to drugs, alcohol, etc. They may consider their behaviour during their addiction as the worst act of their lives. If everyone thought to give up on these people, the best of these individuals wouldn't be brought out. They would continue in their road to self-destruction and bring others down with them, but some people realize that even a good person, under certain circumstances or from experience, can do very wrong things. In most cases, people are worth more than their worst acts. Don't get me wrong, there are some cases in this world where it is nearly impossible to see a glimpse of light, but these are rare and the most extreme cases. And some may argue that even in these cases, these individuals have something wired wrong. I don't think that this should be used as a defense and I do believe that there are dark hearts out there, but I think that taking the population as a whole, the majority of people in society can do something quite nasty at some point in life and may at another point in their lives be incredibly compassionate. I think we spend our lives misunderstanding the guy who pissed us off in traffic or cut in front us at the coffee shop. I get ticked off, at times react, but try to keep it into perspective. People have problems, some deal with problems by avoiding hurting others, and others aren't so good at this. I know these aren't the acts you are speaking of, but I am merely trying to illustrate that human beings are complex and in my opinion can't be broken down to a simple equation. What is considered bad is different from person to person, and even from culture to culture. Which brings me to my next point.

For example, some people think some of the worlds most inhumane leaders are heroes. Some countries are torn entirely because of their leaders. We swallow what the media in the western world tells us and I am not defending these leaders in any way, but look at some of our own leaders and some of the atrocities that they inflicted on other innocents. Do we think of them as their worst act, or are we so ignorant to believe that our leaders or our way of life is better than ALL other ways of life. If you live in Dubai women can't vote. That would drive me crazy, but than again, I am a proud Canadian. I don't understand how any of these women can be content not voting and I am sure many aren't. Still, I know people in the world who don't care about such things and just because I can't comprehend it, I have to respect them when they say that they would not like to live in the west. I love it. I am proud of our lifestyle, but who am I to rob someone of their beliefs. For as long as someone doesn't feel they are being harmed and their rights aren't being violated, I have to show respect, not be patronizing. I am just showing how differently someone can look at a leader or someone's lifestyle and judge, but that opinion may be different from person to person. Getting back to the point - opinions on a person's lifestyle and 'doings' will be different from person to person. For example, I think a person who ridicules someone has committed a worse crime than someone who smokes up or is drinks excessively or is promiscuous. Not everyone will share my opinion.

I don't want to imply that I defend individuals that attack and harm others intentionally. I was only trying to show that most things are up for interpretation and the majority of people aren't purely evil, although I do believe there are some frighteningly dark people too. (and even this, I know not everyone would agree)

I'd like to think that we are given worth based on our lives as a whole and not on moments we were at our weakest.

I have never had an addiction and to tell you the truth, I don't think I have ever harmed anyone intentionally or in any extreme way. I just feel that life has thrown me a few surprises, and some of the greatest people I have met have been people plagued with struggles.

Cheers

Answer 2

False, yet also True. A human being is worth something, no matter what, but regarding whether they have done something great (good or bad) may decide how much "worth" they are. For instance, a serial killer will be worth a LOT but in a bad sense, because everyone wants to find him and get him off the streets, where as someone that is a great person is worth a LOT because everybody loves them and wants to be around them.

Answer 3

Humans aren't "worth" anything no matter what. The point is moot.

Answer 4

That is absurd. Obviously you don't believe in the death penalty.

Answer 5

I always felt we're the sum of all our parts, good and bad....

Answer 6

.False...that's why we build prisons ..