User blog comment:Brianbreed/Why Do I Burn Kaiden?/@comment-1900300-20120106143248/@comment-1823873-20120107010548

Hi Iron! Thank you for the thoughtful response. I feel remiss that you understood me to imply that one life is worth more or less than another - I didn't intend to suggest any such thing. As I see it, there's a difference between value and cost. I like to think of value as that certain indefinable something about being human - call it spirit or soul or something more material - which makes all people equal. There's no way to quantify that value, nor any way to measure it. I think of cost, by contrast, as a social phenomenon. If I were to die today, the cost to my family and friends would be measurable, and real. But if my sister, who is married and has three children, were to die today, the cost would be immeasurably greater. I think I'm as valuable as my sister, but my death would be easier to reconcile than hers.

And while you do elaborate in a very sophisticated way on both Kaidan and Ashley (and their driving motives), it only makes me feel more confirmed in my choice to choose to save Ashley on the suicide mission. Kaidan's experiences - many of which I'm indebted to you for reminding me about - have formed a man who really understands what it means to take one for the team. Death would be the easy way out for Ashley. She wants to redeem her family name, and dying a hero would certainly do that; but living as a hero is invariably tougher.

I don't know. I feel pretty darned set in my ways when I read over what I just wrote. Suffice it to say, thank you for your very thoughtful response!