It is considered a "mitzvah" — a commanded act — and a holy thing to do, but its origins probably date to a time when there weren't adequate ways to protect bodies from rodents (or perhaps evil spirits) during the night.
Every particular type of act that one might perform thus has its moral status as obligatory or non-obligatory in virtue of God's having commanded the performance of acts of that type or God's not having commanded acts of that type.
It also shows how you can use the open_undo_buffer and close_undo_buffer routines from the ChIPS advanced module to make a set of commands act as a single command (for undo and redo purposes), by taking advantage of the chips_contrib.decorators.add_chips_undo_buffer routine.
The formula of autonomy commands, "act only so that the will could regard itself as at the same time giving universal law through its maxims" (G 4 434).
The formula of the universal law of nature commands, "act as if the maxim of your action were to become by your will a universal law of nature" (G 4 421).
The formula of universal law commands, "act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law" (G 4 421).
And the formula of the kingdom of ends commands, "act in accordance with the maxims of a member giving universal laws for a merely possible kingdom of ends" (G 4 439).
In a deliberate echo of the biblical injunction to love thy neighbour as thyself, individuals are commanded to "act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood".
The formula of the end in itself commands, "So act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means" (G 4 429).
Life or death can hang in the balance, as it did in the film and as it does, for example, in mental health care when someone has decided to suicide; or believes they are God and commanded to act in a way destructive to others; or is addicted to drugs, alcohol, or tobacco; and countless other instances when someone has exited from reason and responsibility.
But the military high command acted before it could get there, with General Mendoza and the army commander, Gen. Telmo Sandoval, sending troops to take control of the building and deploying tanks in the square in front of it to block the protesters' advance.
