Kapsar

Right or Wrong: Do I Care?

Right or Wrong: Do I Care? Kellen Kapsar Lonestar College Intro to Ethics: 2306 2 June 2011

Kapsar Right or Wrong: Do I Care?

It is difficult for me to think of very many of what I had perceived to be ethical dilemmas in my life about my past, at the present time things I have done in the past are more thought provoking. There are many things that I would not think twice about doing that today I would not do, however, at the time I did them, it wasnt an issue or dilemma for me. I have a very poor memory of my childhood, which is mostly an enormous blur, and so I will do my best to recollect the details of one situation that can be considered a moral and ethical issue, and then analyze the situation, my thought process, the actions taken, and then I will relook at the whole situation if I could do it over what I would change and why. Here is the situation. I think I was in about the eighth or ninth grade at the time. My best friend DeBellis and I were hanging out at our local Wal-Mart in Akron, and we came across a miniature football that was unmarked for a price. It was a pretty item, so we tossed it around to each other a few times and mutually thought it might be worth buying if it was only 3 or 4 dollars. We hung onto the football so that we could do a price check at the checkout and decide then if it was worth picking up or not. We made our way to the check out with the ball and DeBellis also grabbed a soda out of the cooler. We got a price check on the football and it turned out to be $6.99, I think. DeBellis and I thought that was too much and told the lady checking us out that we didnt want the football at that price. So she rings up his soda for a buck something and he pays for it. Then she sticks the soda in a plastic bag, grabs the mini football from over on the counter, tosses it into the bag with the soda, and hands us the bag with a smile. As best as I can remember I will recall my process during this situation. The first question that arose in my mind was, was what the lady did, immoral or not? If not then the issue is settled. But say she was immoral to give us the football. In that case was it right of us to take

Kapsar it anyway? Then the question comes up of: is this action really going to hurt anybody? And finally, Regardless of whether or not it was moral, did I care? Was the cashier lady immoral? At first it seems obvious that a cashier should probably not be giving away complimentary items to kids at Wal-Mart. However, she may have been a very generous and kind soul that actually paid for our football out of her own pocket and replaced the discrepancy of the transaction as we were heading for the exit. This is one possibility that would put her very much in the clear. Also, she may have been a manager that had the authority to give some leniency in cost of an item in the name of fantastic customer service. Keep in mind that the football was not properly marked on the shelf and we really wanted to buy it, and were caused some disappointment at its discovered price. Had the ball been properly marked in the first place, then there would have been no confusion about whether we could get it, sparing us any disappointment. In all honesty, this very situation caused DeBellis and I to be very zealous and excited Wal-Mart shoppers for years to come. On the premise that great customer service creates customer loyalty, Wal-Mart, on this transaction,

made a monumentally successful investment on us kids that we would happily pay back probably a thousand fold within a few years. Okay, was the lady really authorized to give us the football for free, in the event that she didnt replenish the cash register out of her own pocket? It would seem that too much of that type of action would probably cause some serious profit shrinkages for the company and so Im going to have to say that it is seriously doubtful that she was supposed to give anything to customers, even if it was not properly priced. Now as my mind worked through all the possibilities of her giving the football to us I came up with a stealing or not probability. Although I really didnt know for certain, my out of thin air probability on the transaction was that it was probably 89% shady. This hit me later of

Kapsar course. At the time there was absolutely no hesitation to take advantage of our seemingly excellent good fortune. God must want to bless us, was my immediate thought. Part of the reason that I think there was no hesitation in this situation is because the check-out lady was rather authoritative looking. She was probably in her late fifties with silver hair and a genuine warmth and confidence exuding from her persona. She was not the type of person that you would figure would do something rash, act dramatically, or foolishly. She seemed very deliberate and just the kind of person that if they told you to do something you would figure,

Okay well she must know what shes talking about, she certainly seems to have it together a lot more than I do, thats for sure. It all happened rather fast. As I look back into the situation, there is one main thing that leads me to the conclusion that the gift was not supposed to be allowed. Its that she didnt say anything about it as she was doing it. Had she said, Sorry about this trouble, we should have marked it with a price. Its gonna be on the house this time, then I do not think that this situation would have ever morphed into my own moral dilemma. However, the reality of the situation was that she handed us the bag with a sort of knowing look. It was one of those, I know that you know whats going on and be cool, because I am going to be real smooth, sort of sly maneuvers. The first compulsion was just such surprise that it was hard to not crack a mega smile. On top of this, DeBellis was lit up with some excitement that was usually reserved for making napalm fireballs or demolition by explosion. Even more compelling than our own gain of a football, was a tinge of a notion that by taking the bag we were somehow going to bring happiness to this lady. She hands it to us with a certain suave to maintain poise, but her eyes were just laughing about it. So, needless to say, I walked out of that store with my friend DeBellis, a story, and a free mini football. It happened quite fast.

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DeBellis and I walked out of the store and as we hit the parking lot excitedly grabbed the ball and said things along the lines of: Dude that was so awesome. Heck yes it was. So sweet. I cant believe how legit that lady was We were happy and went on to have many good times with the mini football. Now, I will take a look In hindsight at the situation again, my thought process, and think about whether or not we did the right thing by taking the football, and I will also explain what I would do in the same situation, if I could go back and do it all over again. I will analyze the situation from a personal perspective of several different ethical systems of thought. The ethical or moral value systems I will analyze on behalf of will be act utilitarianism and egoism. A premise of act utilitarianism states, an agent is required to perform whichever available action would result in the highest aggregated level of well-being among sentient creatures (Hanser 321). This is a little hard to apply the implications of this act to all sentient creatures from this little act but I will attempt. I believe that the correct action for an act utilitarian in this situation is to steal the football. It seems that its going to bring a lot of happiness to some kids and there will really not be strong repercussions of unhappiness from the theft. Wal-Mart will survive it and carry on and things will not be disrupted badly enough to counterbalance the great pleasure this free football will surely bring to the kids day and further use of said football. A premise of egoism states, motivation for morality is based on self-interest: to seek one's own joy (Huang Abstract). As an egoist, its clear I take the football as the right thing to do. The ball will definitely bring me pleasure. There is absolute no qualm or reason not to take the ball at that point. The only possible issue is the slight chance that I could get in trouble for

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having the ball. That would be extremely easy to pass off as an honest mistake, however, and so its a no brainer. I take the football to satisfy my desire and I dont care about anyone else. Is this stealing? If yes, are we the accomplice, or the thieves? At the time, I honestly ran through the process to the immediate question of, is this hurting anybody? I rather carelessly and shallowly took it to the top of the chain and thought about there being 18 billionaires with the last name Walton. I figured those guys werent hurting and so there was no victim in this crime. I also figured (correctly) that I would more than repay Wal-Marts kindness with a very loyal devotion of preference for the stores as a landing place for probably about 20 percent of my income for many years to come. Okay, now moving entirely aside after my justifications were complete I had to face the question of: if this is actually stealing, do I really care? Now up to this point there is a lot of fog. It is at beginning at this point that I believe my guilt is solidified regardless of the question of whether or not the act itself was wrong. I pondered the question, if it is actually wrong, do I even care? In all honesty, this is where I thought to myself, well, if I cannot directly substantiate in my mind the victim of consequence of this act, than I dont care if I do it, even if it is not right. The not caring if wrong, even when previously unsure of whether or not it was right or wrong is the boiled down bottom of the issue and is what made this situation something that bothered me, until now. Now, from today looking back, I am going to say that I believe that I was in the wrong. At first glance it seems that my decision was based largely in egoism. I did what seemed most beneficial for me in the situation. However, a true egoist is a subjectivist that does not believe in a right or a wrong. This was not my belief at the time of this situation. In fact, quite to the contrary, I was a strong believer in objective truth and morality. To sum up in a nutshell, I think my beliefs at the time were sort of deontological in nature. There was a certain code of

Kapsar conduct that I not only tried to follow, but I believed that it was right to follow, and immoral to

break said code. I can think of two precepts of the code that will apply here. One being: do unto others what you would have them to do unto you. Second, I believed that it was wrong to steal. So, if I did not want others to steal from me than I shouldnt steal from them. Not surprisingly I didnt want to be stolen from. So I shouldnt steal for that reason. Also I thought that stealing in itself was simply wrong, yet I did it. I went against my own morality. This was not because I thought it was okay. I knew that I didnt think it was okay, at all. I thought it was flat wrong. I thought it was objectively wrong and bad and immoral. Not only did I think it was objectively not kosher, and still did it anyways, but I did not care that I thought what I did was wrong, and I had absolutely no remorse. If an egoist is someone who thinks there is no wrong, only what may benefit me or not, than I became in a sense more of an evil sociopath than what can be said of an egoist. Essentially this is what I do: I think something is wrong to do, and I do it anyway. This is not a mere denial of ethics or objective morality. This is a spitting on morality because I am going to do what I want for myself even when I recognize that I think what I am doing is wrong. That is deep. That is the bottom core of the issue. From there I scrap the issue of finding a correct moral system. I realize the issue is not that I do not have the correct moral system or compass guide in place. The issue is that I do not want to deal with thinking there is a possibility of any chance of a reality of a moral compass. I do not like the idea in the least. Why do I now dislike this idea of an ethical code? It is because I am not moral. Any moral code I establish, I cannot even keep. I am a failure and a hypocrite. Morality is futile. The only chance I have at avoiding immorality is grace. I will always need more of it because I will always miss the mark. I just cannot be moral. When I attempt, I fail.

Kapsar If I could do this football situation over and have another shot inside Wal-Mart at the cash register I would do it differently. I would simply ask the cashier lady if she was aware that we did not pay for the football, and ask her if she was positive that it was okay for us to have it without her breaking any rules. If I had done that, and she had lied to us about it, I still could have left with a free football and a clear conscience. If she had said that she really was not supposed to give it to us, than I would have thanked her for consideration, but I just could not accept it, because it meant more to me to look after her conscience than any joy a football could have brought.

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References American Hanser, M. (1998). A puzzle about beneficence. Analysis, 58(2), 159. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Huang, Y. (2008). WHY BE MORAL? The Cheng Brothers' Neo-Confucian Answer. Journal of Religious Ethics, 36(2), 321-353. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9795.2008.00348.x Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.