Killing Is Not Always A Sin

Killing is very wrong and is considered a very bad sin...or is it? Sometimes killing is apart of life, and people have no choice but to kill for their own survival. When someone commits the act of murder out of jealousy, or out of pure fun, then killing is wrong. Sometimes a person has no choice in whether to kill or not, like for instance -protection or even it could be someone's duty. In the stories "A Horseman In the Sky" by Ambrose Bierce, and "Ambush" by Tim O'Brien two young men have to kill someone,because it is both for protection also because it is their duty. Both stories way of killing is understandable, and in a sense right. (Compared to killing for fun, which is wrong.)

In the story "A Horseman In the Sky" by Ambrose Bierce, A young man named Carter Druse is on the duty of being the lookout for the Union in the Civil War. HIs job is to either kill any spies or to warn them if the Confederate is coming. While Druse was on the lookout, he slowly fell asleep. When he awakes he sees a man looking off the cliff. The man was completely unaware of Druse. Druse notic

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Another example of when killing is somewhat right is in the story "Ambush", by Tim O'Brien. His dad told him to always follow his commands and carry out his orders. (He was trying to decide whether or not to shoot at this figure, or maybe wake up the rest of the soldiers. Either way they had no intentions of killing the person, and I would not consider their killings a sin. The sergeant reminds him that it was the right thing to do. Druse then struggles tremendously to shoot him.

In both these stories their situations were almost alike. With his father's words in Druse's mind, he pulls the trigger. This lets Druse know that his father probably wouldn't care as much that he shot him, as long as it was part of his duty. He finally decides that he should just try and scare off the stranger by throwing a grenade in his direction. Druse now realizes the man he was about to shoot was his own father. He saved the soldiers lives and his own life by not taking any chances. He was very nervous because he did not know what to do. Both stories has to kill someone in order to keep themselves and others safe.

Approximate Word count = 752
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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