The Box

You barely have enough money to make ends meet. Your husband or wife doesn't make that much money and your income is needed to support you and your young son. You lose your job. The same day you lose your job a mysterious man appears at your door with a magical box and an offer. If you push the button on the box he will give you one million dollars in cash. However, when you push the button someone somewhere in the world that you don't know will die. Would you push the button?

The Box is a film based on the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson, which was also once the basis for an episode of The Twilight Zone. The film is written and directed by Richard Kelly. The film stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden but is really stolen by Frank Langella and James Rebhorn with a pretty good performance by the young Sam Oz Stone. The film is really two films in one. The first half of the movie is really good, an emotional struggle of what to do with the box or whether or not the challenge is really a hoax. The last half of the movie is a joke, transferring into a really stupid unbelievable science fiction movie. The movie transcends from the believable to the unbelievable. I would give it one to two stars at the most just for the amazing supporting performances. However, don't waste the money to go to the theater wait for the movie to come out on cable or DVD.

The movie did bring up some moral dilemmas that I find interesting. If you were desperate and had the chance to get a million bucks in cash by killing someone in the world that you didn't know would you do it? No violence necessary, just push a button. Of course all of us here would immediately say no way. Let's change the question a bit.

You push the button one person dies but you can use the money to save many others. Maybe the money will help you find the cure for cancer. One person dies, several people live. Would you push the button then?

Let's change the unknown to the known. You push the button and you know the person that will die and it is someone like Hitler, a serial killer like Bundy, or a child killer like Wesley Alan Dodd. Would you push the button then?

I'm not sure there is any scenario where I would push the button but killing a Hitler would certainly be an attractive option. As would saving millions by sacrificing one person. I just know my conscience would destroy me for the rest of my life. What would you do?

TODAY'S TRIVIA:

Yesterday's answer: Mona Van Duyn

I was the first conductor in a venue that wasn't a train. Born in 1924 I grew up in Arkansas. I was a child prodigy and was giving public performances on the violin by the time I was ten. I graduated from high school at the age of fourteen. I graduated from college in at age 20. I won a scholarship as a viola player at Berkshire Music Center in 1946. In 1947 I staged Vaughan Williams' Riders to the Sea. l moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1952 and became head a university there. In 1957 I started an opera group where I staged a large mix of operas, establishing a reputation for producing difficult works under pressure. I was also known for putting together interesting variations of standard operas. In 1976 I became the first female conductor at the a famous house with La traviata sarring the famous Beverly Sills. In 1996 I received the National Medal of Arts. I was also inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame. I died at 83 from heart failure. Who Am I?