What if...
Ann would have told her husband that she was dying and only had a couple of months left to live and also told him that one thing she would like to do before she dies would be to have sex with someone else. Imagine that Don would have said no to that and told her that he wanted her to remain faitful.
Would you in that scenario think he was being selfish to refuse one of her dying wishes?
Yeah... I am just going to ignore there are people out there who think she was being selfish for wanting to feel like she lived life at it's fullest and leave a bigger mark in the world before being consumed by cancer at the 'ol age of twenty three. (Do people even remember she was just twenty three years old, for pete's sake? She married the guy she first kissed, quit school, had two kids, cleaned buildings for a living and literally never knew anything other than that life! She was very happy and loved her kids and husband, yes, but can you really blame her for try and experience what else was to life?)
shareUmmm yes, duh, her vows were TILL DEATH DO US PART. Had she stayed living, would she have needed to cheat? Did she plan on getting divorced later in life? When she said she'd marry her husband, she vowed to keep faithful until death. That doesn't change just because death comes early.
Should people say "till death do us part, unless I die before the age of ____"? No, that's ridiculous. Just don't get married then. She is selfish.
To be realistic, they should actually say till death or divorce do us part. And it is pointless to argue what would she have done if she continued living. Would you think and act the same way as you do now if you knew with certainty that you have only three months to live?
You basically argue she's an oathbreaker. And there's a moral judgement here: this would make her a bad person. Now, as I've been taught, lying is also bad. As with word keeping, the requirement of truthfulness is an ethical principle. In deonthological ethics it is argued that if all people would never respect their promises than promise would be absolutely pointless (therefore such a principle for action is self-contradictory, hence illogical, hence an error of practical reason). Similarly, the same can be argued about lying. Breaking any of these two principles is bad. Have you never told a lie your entire life?
Selfish? Really? What if she wanted, as a dying wish, to kill someone? Or perform some other horrific act? He should give his okay so not to be selfish? Maybe something not a crime but just immoral. Let's say purposely ruin someone's marriage or reputation. Or maybe go out and preach the virtues of prejudice, hate and intolerance just to see what it's like. That should be okay right? It is after all a dying wish and to deny her the ability or opportunity would be selfish right?
Whether asking or not, cheating on him for any reason would be an invalidation of the love she supposedly has for him. It's cruel and would cheapen the love "he" thought existed between them. How would he feel for the rest of his life knowing that his dying wife, the woman he loved, mother of his children, last wish was to screw another guy? How can people be so superficial about what they think marriage is and all it stands for? Where do people get these asinine ideas that it's okay to cheat on your spouse just because you're dying? What is their moral standard? The fact that she did have sex with someone else only confirms that "she's" selfish and that "she" had no "real love" for her husband.