sleuth
Livin' Like Thanksgivin'
SamSpade said:That's easy. Death. Dying for someone else's sake. It is impossible to reap the slightest benefit once you have given it up for someone else's sake. You might believe it is for the best, but once you're dead, you can't benefit from it any longer. And you haven't actually DONE it, until you are dead.
Even the act of dying for someone has instrinsic value to you. If I took a bullet for my kid, it isn't a sacrifice, because I value life and the hope of a new generation.
If I took a bullet for a stranger, my benefit is that somehow that stranger's life would be changed to where they would make the world... the same world that my family is living in... a better place.
You can still benefit even after dying if there is something you value more than your own life that is being satisfied. Maybe it's not a "tangible" benefit, but it is a perceived one.