Survive To Do Good

On wartime, and what to do about it

I recently heard the phrase "survive to do good." A classmate casually mentioned it while sharing a story he learned growing up in India. I can't find anything like it online, so I'll do my best to retell it here.

The story was about wartime morality—how if you believe you are good, your number one obligation becomes staying alive vs. doing good. You may not be able to do as much "good" as you'd like during this time, and you might even have to do things you'd never consider in peacetime. But survival becomes essential—even the "good guys" must sometimes make difficult choices during war, so they can ultimately continue being one of the ones doing good in the world when peace returns.

This concept has been on my mind lately.