Life is Gods greatest gift to mankind. Is there anything worth losing this mostprecious gift for? Both US History and Literature give us an in-depth perspective on howmany times men and women alike sacrifice their lives for morals and values that are tothem worth more than life itself.An example of one of these morals would be humanity. The union army of thecivil war held this moral so close to their heart that without a second thought theymarched troops throughout the United States to fight and even die to help free the slaves. They saw that these men, women, and children were being in humanely held captivesagainst their will. These innocent people had committed no crime but were still beingtreated as criminals. They were forced into near insufferable labor and cruel and unusualpunishment and persecution. The union saw this and took heart, for they knew that suchtreatment of a fellow human being was evil and immoral. Thousands upon thousands ofunion soldiers met their end in the civil war. The soldier found no vice in this because theyknew those dark times called for action, even if that meant the loss of lives. Humanity, tothem, was more important than life itself.An example of this kind of sacrifice in U.S. Literature can be found in the classicpiece The Crucible. In this work we find young America in the times of the Salem witchtrials. False accusations were brought against many. These people could either admit tomaking a pact with Satan or die in ways that are unspeakable. Most chose to admit toconspiring with Satan. One of the few that didnt was the character John Proctor. JohnProctor found it more important to keep a clear conscience than to save his neck. He diedyoung, but he died honest. That is defiantly a good reason to give you life. Religion is a very important sector of mans life. In a time when mens minds were triteand closed, Proctor found the courage to stand up for his religion and beliefs.Another ...
