The story given below is quite interesting and really gives us an insightinto DECISION MAKING.

Which one will you choose?

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track. The train came, and you were just beside the track interchange. You could make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we couldmake................ No cheating...Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrificeonly one child.

You might think the same way, I guess. Because to save most of the children at the expense of only one child isthe rational decision most people would make normally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disusedtrack had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place? Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was.


This kind of dilemma happens around useveryday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in ademocratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest ofthe majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and howfarsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

I would not try to change the course of the train because i believe that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still inuse,and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe.If thetrain was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengerson board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to bemade, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the rightone. "Remember that what's right isn't always popular...and what's popular isn't always right."