When is your life more important than someone elses?

        In the book The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey the 4 children (Reynie, Skicky, Constance and Kate) go looking for their lost friends on what you could call a perilous journey. They are on a race against time itself for they only have 4 days until Mr. Curtain (an evil mad scientist) does what he wants to their friends.
        They end up racing across the world to save them. And the whole time they are putting their own lives at risk. With Mr. Curtains men/killers running around after them, it's all they could do is try to stay alive. And for what? People that can save themselves? People that have top security agents behind them? I understand that they care deeply for those who had been captured, but when is it time to put yourself first? Or do they not remember the fact that they are just children. Extraordinary children. But children all the same.
        The only problem is that when you do finally put yourself first, people take it as your selfish and you don't care. But you do care. And even if you did go and save them, what if you got yourself killed in the process? Who would that help? It would just make those you are trying to save blame themselves.
         So when is it time to put yourself first? And when is it time to put all others aside and help who needs help?

When does someone's life become more important to you?

        When do we create our own legacy? Is it when we do something extraordinary? Or do we just live in out parents legacy's? If someone was hurt and sitting on the street, and they would die if you didn't help them, but you knew their parents had hurt someone close to you, would you help them?
        This is the predicament that Stevie Rae got herself in to from the book Burned. She saw a raven mocker (beastly sons of a "fallen angel" called Kalona") about to die with both his wing and his arm broken (they are 1/2 man and 1/2 bird beasts). And in the end she decided to help him. And I believe that I would have done the same thing.
        A persons parents is different from that person. And even though Kalona has done many evil things, that doesn't make him evil too. It just makes him caught in his fathers shadow. And it's sometimes is hard to break that shadow. But is possible if tried.
        In the book Horton Hears a Who Horton says throughout the whole book "a persons a person no matter how small". In some ways that's true. But in other ways it's not. What if you were too kill an ant because it's gross? Does it make it okay because an ant is just one little insignificant bug? Or does is it not okay because every life no matter how small is sacred?
        What do you think? Should it be okay to kill insicnificant creatures? And do your parents make you feel as if you should follow in their footsteps?