for self, for masses?

here's a picture of Japanese Troops on the Manchurian Plains.

well, read an excerpt from a recount of a Japanese WW2 war veteran during HCL class today;
it says about how this person, a soldier from WW2,
have to join the army in order to avoid the execution by the Japanese authorities.
and he, reluctantly have to commit atrocities in China in order to survive.
the Rape of Nanking. he have to kill Chinese troops and resistance forces in order to survive.

well, this HCL lesson left much thoughts in my mind for the whole day.
it just tells me that sometimes in life,
we don't have a choice to choose.
like the person in the recount,
he had to join the army, if not he'll be executed;
he have to kill and fight Chinese troops,
if not he'll be the one getting killed.

really, many times in life, things happen when we are left with no choice.
we have to do certain things, because that is what we can only do then.
maybe it's a lot about survival;
like the man mentioned, he joined the army to survive,
he kill to survive, he commit atrocities to survive.

i guess the most basic about the world is survival.
only when we are alive, then we can do other things.
many will fight to survive, struggle to survive, and even harm others to survive.
when we value life over any other thing else,
we are left with not a lot of choices to choose over.

i will say once more, human beings are selfish.
we value our very own survival over any other things else.
over morals, over rules, over goodness.
we can brush aside everything, in order to survive.

people from the past value morals over life.
they are willing to sacrifice their lives in order not to do something wrong,
so that what is right will be done, at the cost of their lives.
nowadays people will do anything to keep themselves alive.
to put this into a smaller scope,
people will do anything to achieve their personal means, including survival.
that's why the society is getting darker and darker.
because people value self over morals and the masses.

i would say that a desperate person,
that is desperate over self survival and self aims,
will do anything to keep himself surviving, or getting the aims achieved.

who would value morals and the masses over self nowadays?
morals and live, which one is more valuable?
many things in this world often goes wrong,
because people tend to value things that are invaluable.
friendships breaks because people value self over friends;
war breaks out because people value profit over peace;
quarrel breaks out because people value self interest over the interest of the masses;
just because when people value the wrong things,
everything starts to go wrong.

i would like to ask,
would you live a life of self-survival,
working hard to make yourself the top of everything;
or would you give up your life,
in order to preserve a right cause and keep it going?

i guess when such situation arises,
most people wouldn't find it hard to make a choice.
i guess you all have your very own answer,
about which to choose over.