May 11th, 2010 
judowolf
I pulled the lever on my recliner and the footrest swung up – taking the newspaper off my lap; I opened it, and read the headline: “Man Runs into Burning Building Saves Mother and Daughter’s Lives.” A passer-by entered a burning building rescued a mother and her baby and was deemed a hero for saving their lives.
Finishing the article, I wondered how the headline would change by substituting prolong for save. The headline would then read: “Man Runs into Burning Building Prolonging Mother and Daughters Lives.”
Stop and think about this for a moment: any action taken by another, which extends a person’s life, is deemed saving not prolonging. Saving is putting something away for later use; pennies, stamps, coupons, special birthday or anniversary cards, photographs, and heirlooms. Prolonging is extending a magazine subscription, an overtime-sporting event, or a warrantee – but not people’s lives.
The word save, brings a warm fuzzy feeling inside, while the word prolong is perceived as cold and impersonal. Ironic, the word save in the context of a fire story is used correctly, but the emphasis is not placed on the danger (fire), instead on the prolonging of the human lives. The headline should read, “Man Saves Mother and Child from Fire, Prolonging Their Lives.”
Continuing, I came across another article devoted to a new cancer treatment, which would save lives. The article quoted physicians, and researchers who specialized in cancer treatment, and they never said we prolong lives – but save them from the effects of cancer. They spoke about prolonging quantity of life, but never mentioned robbing its quality. Saving is thrown around as it will make things better, if we could save our own life we would store it and use it later. The question is what would we do with multiple stored lives?
Placing the paper on the floor, I went into the kitchen, poured another cup of coffee, and gazing into the backyard thought; saving our lives would prolong them, but prolonging them would not save them.
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Thanks for this post. I considerably agree with what you are saying. I have been talking about this subject a lot lately with my father so just maybe this will get him to see my point of view. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for this post. I literally agree with what you are saying. I have been talking about this subject a lot lately with my father so most probably this will get him to see my point of view. Fingers crossed!