Should we keep other people from pain?

Pain can teach you a lot of things. If you put your hand over a fire you get burnt and you remember not to do it again because it feels bad. Pain only works as a teacher if you try to avoid it next time. Sometimes it helps you to learn the lesson if you know for a fact that fire hurts instead of just going by what someone else has told you.


Knowing that, how much of a responsibility do we have to other people?

We can be the one telling them that the fire hurts but some people will never believe it until they find out for themselves. Should we let them get burnt once to know the truth?

It depends on the size of the problem at hand.
If someone puts their hand in the fire OBVIOUSLY I'm going to try to stop them. It's unnecessary pain. But if the person asks what would happen if they put their hand in the fire, I'm going to tell them it will burn them. And maybe show that by sitting very close to the fire, and show them how hot THAT is.
But If it's something of a bigger magnitute, like a friend dying or medical problems, I honestly think it takes more than one burn to get what you need from the pain.
And I also don't think I could sit aside and watch someone I love go through pain that I could have prevented.

I think you should tell them, and then if they don't listen, they can find out for themselves.

mcr666 wrote:

I think you should tell them, and then if they don't listen, they can find out for themselves.

Yeah I pretty much agree but I thought it would be more interesting to have more polarized poll options.

So you really have to wonder about some things then...

Some people might say it would be best to make "fire" illegal so that people wouldn't get hurt.

Do you think that's a good idea?

(I'm not literally talking about fire, I'm using it as a metaphor for anything that's "harmful" or dangerous )

I don't think it should be made illegal. And even if it was, just cause something is illegal doesnt mean you wont see it in use anymore.

Let people get hurt
Children however I think should be protected from 'some' things
Such as fire, boiling water, power cords, etc.
But if a child wants to stick their hand in the sink while their mother is washing dishes under hot water
Then they will learn their lesson through pain
People also learnt heir lesson after drinking too much or taking drugs
You also learn how to interact and feel through emotional pain
This is something that could be studied
Something that could prove very important

mcr666 wrote:

I don't think it should be made illegal. And even if it was, just cause something is illegal doesnt mean you wont see it in use anymore.

Yeah..
It gets tricky though.

If drugs for example are illegal then people know they're bad and are less likely to use them since it's against the law.

But at the same time, if they REALLY want to take drugs they will break the law anyway.

Depending on the situation, I'd say generally no, we should not keep them from pain.
People need to learn for themselves what pain is. & I agree with ID's above argument.

But when it comes to something life threatening or severe, then I believe we should try.