# Something to Kill or Die For By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-12-17 Life is precious. Within our society, fewer people think so. People sometimes list things they are willing to die (D). Among the things on that list are often one’s family, friends, and freedoms. People don’t often discuss openly the things for which they are willing to kill (K). Understanding the relationship between D and K is potentially useful individually and socially. Often, nation-states reserve the right of K for themselves. In the United States, K is generally reserved for those within the enforcement class (i.e., the police and military) or private citizens if their life or property is threatened. Otherwise, K is largely prohibited. Under such a rule, if one engages in unauthorized K, one will likely also D, either in confrontation or as one’s punishment. As such, for the everyday citizen, the relationship between K and D has to be that K is a subset of D (K ⊂ D). In other words, the things on List K must be a subset of the things on List D. We are an increasingly violent society. There are likely many things that contribute to this. The devaluation of life is likely a central concern. As stated at the beginning, life is precious. But its value is diminished in despair. Without hope, it is relatively easy to become nihilistic and lose all of one’s values, including the value one places on life. Almost anything can be on one’s K or D list when this occurs. This isn’t healthy for the individual, and it isn’t good for society. If we want to minimize K and D, we should offer each member of society something real to live (L). We aren’t, and we are starting to see the consequences of this failure. L is beautiful. K and D are not. If we want to minimize K and D, we must maximize L. #### Related Items [[Life]] [[Death]] [[Mathematics]] [[Punishment]] [[Value]] [[Hope]] [[Society]]