Hmmm. What would I expect my sisters to do in order to save my life? Measuring the Measure of Personal Ethics.

Here's The Scenario

Let's say I knocked up a woman out of wedlock and, because President Obama wanted to make a case out of our oversexed nation, he had one of his leaders, Arne Duncan, punish me to death for the out-of-wedlock shenanigan (note: I'm calling on Arne Duncan for a reason).

Now, let's say that both my sisters were extremely chaste - no liquor, no sex, no drugs, no wine (Cynde) - and devoted their lives to the church (KC does this already, no?)

To make things more interesting, let's say Arne Duncan, who called for my death, became fond of both my sisters (stirrings) and propositioned them to sleep with him in order to save my life.

Let's speculate for a minute. I know this would never happen, but this is the nature of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Would I allow my sisters to screw Arne Duncan in order to keep me alive (Arne Duncan is the Secretary of Education and, like Angelo in the Bard's text, somewhat of a vile human being - that is, he says one thing about what's best for American students and teachers but is driven by another - $$$)?

I don't think I would ever be able to consent to my sisters making a sacrifice like that (not with Arne, anyway). Maybe it's my feminist undergraduate training or the fact that I was raised correctly, but whoring my sisters to keep me alive would never be justified. I'd rather be done with my life than know that they slept with Arne Duncan.

Of course, this is only my perspective. The question for my sisters in this quagmire would be if they suggested going through with the hanky-panky in order to keep me alive. Why would they want to do this? Easy. So I could be the husband to the woman I knocked up and help raise the child that resulted from the love-fest. Maybe they would say, "A quickie to keep our only brother alive? We'll do it." To them, it might be a matter of how much they love me. I wouldn't want to subject them to the 'CEO' of McEducation, however, and if they did this for me, I would never be able to forgive myself. I would have to live with the fact that I am alive because my sisters gave in to the awful ideologies and corrupt mind games of Arne Duncan. I couldn't do that.

Yes, Measure for Measure does have me thinking about To Blend or Not To Blend as I previously wrote. If it was reversed, and I had to sleep with Arne Duncan to keep my sisters alive, I'd most like send my brother-in-law, Mike, instead. He could bring his hand puppet with him. That would be okay and everyone would live happily ever after.