The Senior Expiration

This headline is from a news website:

Older people would rather die than let Covid-19 harm US economy – Texas official

They’re writing about Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. He seems to think seniors would rather die than allow Covid-19 to hurt the US economy.

I wonder if he’s right about what seniors would want. Let’s run a hypothetical scenario through our collective minds. But we’ll replace the slow, agonizing death from disease with a much faster death.

You’re a senior. You’re in your house when there’s a knock on the front door. You open the door. A man from the government is standing at your door and he’s holding a loaded revolver. He tells you he must kill you so that the economy will continue to function well—so that everybody else can have a bigger paycheck and buy more expensive toys and drive a newer car.

“Are you cool with that?” he wants to know. Because it’s up to you. If you are selfish and want to live, then he won’t kill you, but there will be definite consequences. The man ten houses down the street whom you’ve never met will lose his job and will no longer be able to afford both a wife and a girlfriend. The street urchin who always uses your yard as a shortcut to his mall hangout will have to forego an upgrade to his phone and therefore won’t be able to use Zoom to chat with his homies. And the unknown vandal who broke out your car window one night just for fun will have his government entitlements reduced by ten percent. So what do you tell the government man with the gun?

Lieutenant Dan might be right. After reflecting upon the above scenarios and perhaps a few similar ones that occur to you, and after giving them due consideration, you might indeed tell the government man, “Kill me now.”