There are moments in life when we have to make hard choices between our roles as private individuals and as citizens with a sense of national loyalty. Discuss with reference to the story you have just read.

Life has many facets. We live it by maintaining a delicate balance between the various facets it offers to us as part of our existence as an individual in a society. Living for our own self, family, profession and country are just a few of them. However at times, it becomes difficult to maintain this balance, and gets overpowered by confusion and dilemmas.

The story about Dr Sadao, Hana and the war prisoner exemplifies this. On finding a wounded war prisoner washed ashore, Dr Sadao and Hana are unable to decide what to do. They are confused whether they should save and tend the injured or leave him to die or inform the army.

Eventually, Dr Sadao strikes a balance by deciding to save him before handing him over to the army. He and his wife sympathetically tend him but the pressure, of secretly hiding a war prisoner in their home and going against the rule of the law, subdue their sympathetic self. In a bid to get rid of this burden, Dr Sadao reveals it to the General who promises to get the prisoner killed through assassins. But Dr Sadao’s humane side again pops up asking him to ply with the voice of his soul, and he  goes out of his way to help the enemy soldier flee to safety.