I have an ethical dilemma.
This afternoon, while eating lunch, I found a bag. I waited for an hour in the hopes that somebody would come by and claim the bag, but nobody came. I would have turned in the bag but for my dislike of middlemen.
So instead, I rummaged through the bag to see if I could find information.
I found a PDA and five (yes, 5) jump drives.
The bag, and presumably all of the contents, belonged to a Donald Barker.
A Doctor Donald Barker.
A Reverend Doctor Donald Barker.
Apparently, this fellow is an expert in ancient history and Christianity.
Now my ethical question is this: should I keep one of the jump drives?
Just yesterday, I lost a jump drive of my own, so surely the good Reverend would agree that YHWH was giving me a gift I most definitely deserved.
My roommate, Trumpet Rob, believes that morality has no shades of grey. Either I give him all of the stuff back or I don’t. Presumably one action is moral and the other is not.
I don’t know if that’s true. I’d be inclined to believe that if I gave him, say, 85% of his stuff back, that I would still be doing a better deed than if I didn’t give him any of his stuff back.
I tell you, if the Reverend had left his stuff back when I was still studying Kant, he’d already be reunited with his precious PDA. But now that I’m doing Nietzsche and Nihilism… he’s lucky I bother communicating with him.
p.s. I already e-mailed the guy, so presumably I will give him all of his stuff back… presumably.
I could use one of those jump drives… and I believe in God…
Hint hint.