~Opinions~ discussion

We all know right from wrong...err at least I'd like to think most people do. However not everything is so cut and and dry, black and white. I've learned there is a grey area.

This is where you can debate that grey area and what you would do in a certain situation.


example: You just saw a homeless mother and her child on the street, now you see them in the grocery store and the mother is shoplifting...what do you do?


We all know stealing is wrong, right?

I go to stand next to her, smiling at her gently, then hand her ten bucks or so and quietly tell her to use it on the food she's trying to shoplift.

If she continues shop-lifting, I'll notifie a person who works in the shop.

I think that's a good way to handle the sistuation.

I've seen homelss ppl and stuff and I always feel bad for them, I've seen my dad give them food or coffee before but never money so one time I asked him why. He said that a lot , not all but a good many of homeless people have other problems such as drug and alcohol addiction. So he won't give them money because they may be more tempted to spend it on getting high instead of buying food or other things they need.

yeah, i know people who wont give money to homeless people for the reason too. i dont know what i would do. maybe what emma said, give them money and tell them to buy what they were shoplifting. it depends. maybe i would tell the store owner.

I don't think I'd tell the store owner. I mean if she were stealing things like magazines or toys I would...but if she is stealing food to feed the kid, I don't think I could falt her for that. I mean I stealing is wrong but they're just trying to survive, and what she is taking is a necessity not a luxary.

Emma (Snowy thoughts) wrote: "I go to stand next to her, smiling at her gently, then hand her ten bucks or so and quietly tell her to use it on the food she's trying to shoplift.

If she continues shop-lifting, I'll notifie a p..."

Good solution. I'd just leave it to her. She's shoplifting *shrugs* it's her life. I know I might sound really unbothered, but I like to keep away from unnecessary trouble.

How is it unnecessary trouble to help someone who needs it? I'm not helping her commit a crime, I'm helping her get food for herself and her kid, by paing for it.

What if you didn't have money on you?

I always carry my wallet with me.

Well, I'm just saying that if I didn't have much money on me, or none at all, I'd just not get involved.

Why would you be in a grocery store if you didn't have money on you?

Wasn't it that you saw someone stealing in a grocery store? Not necessarily in there.

How in the world would you see someone shop-lifting without being in the grocery store? They would have to be immensely stupid to do it in full view of every passer-by.

some people are immensely stupid. lol. jk. i felt like saying that.

"He said that a lot , not all but a good many of homeless people have other problems such as drug and alcohol addiction. So he won't give them money because they may be more tempted to spend it on getting high instead of buying food or other things they need. "

Playing devil's advocate here. Someone once told me that it's not our place to withhold money from poor people because we think they'll spend it on drugs. Why would it bother you if they spent it on something you don't like, because it's not your money anymore and you have no say over how it's spent.

Emma (Snowy thoughts) wrote: "How in the world would you see someone shop-lifting without being in the grocery store? They would have to be immensely stupid to do it in full view of every passer-by."

I donno; I was thinking of watching it from across the street or something. lol

But how big is that possibility? That a person would actually steal in full view, so that anyone may see what they're doing, and catch them. What would be the point of shop-lifting then?

No, rather would I assume that you must be in the store to see someone shoplift, at which you'd most likely have money on you, as it would be utterly foolish to walk into a grocery store without the intentions of buying anything.

Emma (Snowy thoughts)..."

Unless she is just along for the ride. lol But I agree wiht you on the fact that you'd have to be in the store to witness the shoplifting, unless amina has some super natural abilities we don't know of. lol

Lauren wrote: "

We're gonna disagree on this one Lauren. lol

I feel that if it's my money I have every right to say how it is spent & that includes weather or not I wish to donate it to a charitable cause or not. I tend to agree with my father's pov. For all I know the very reason the person is on the street to begin with could be because of an addiction, why fuel that. I understand that it is that persons life and their choice to do as they please with it, even if it is self destructive. However I see no need in helping them destroy themselfs. Therefore I am more than happy to help a homeless person by giving them food or in some other way. I see no reason to give them money that may very well just be waisted. I might as well just put the money thru a papper shredder.

(& I realize that not all homeless ppl would waist the money handed to them but a good many I feel many might))

*whether
*waste
*through
*paper
*themselves

I presume that you're focus on my grammar rather than the content of what I had to say, means you either agree or you just have no other debate.

We'll just agree to disagree.

Hey this Thread is the name of a TV on ABC lol oh the joys. anyway, if i saw someone shop lifting i would either call the cops, tell a manager, or maybe take matters into my own hands if the dude was goin crazy. IDK though.

Dude seriously you'd rat out a homeless lady just trying to feed her kid?

idk I still think Emma had the best approach.

Nate wrote: "Dude seriously you'd rat out a homeless lady just trying to feed her kid?

idk I still think Emma had the best approach."

yeah, me too

Nate wrote: "Dude seriously you'd rat out a homeless lady just trying to feed her kid?

idk I still think Emma had the best approach."

:p !!

No, I read what you wrote. But it would give you more ethos if you typed well.

Emma (Audere est facere) wrote: "But how big is that possibility? That a person would actually steal in full view, so that anyone may see what they're doing, and catch them. What would be the point of shop-lifting then?

No, rathe..."

Yeah, silly me. Anyway, forget I ever said anything, lol. Your solution is the best.

Yay!
*Claps hands together and jumps up and down with glee*

lol :D

I think we need another scenario.

"One morning you are driving to work, and as per usual you are running a bit late, so you are driving a touch faster than the speed limit. You reach down to your stereo to change the CD, when all of a sudden your car hits something solid. You spin to a stop, but not before several more cars have run into you and each other in an attempt to avoid the accident.

As you look up and out of your car, you can see that you hit a person, and that the person is not looking very good. In fact, you are sure that they are dead. You shakily get out of your car, and look around at the damage that has been caused. Several cars have been badly smashed up, but more importantly you have killed someone with your careless driving.

As you are standing there in shock, a woman comes up to you, tears running down her face, and obviously very shook up. As a natural reaction, you ask her what is wrong. She gives you a funny look, and then she explains that she just ran over someone. You ask her where this person is, and she points towards the person that you ran over!

You don’t understand why, but for some reason this woman thinks that she caused this accident and killed the person, when in fact you are well aware that you were the cause. Whoever accepts the blame is likely to be placed in jail for a very long time. If you let the woman take the blame, there is a very good chance you will get away with it all. However, there is also the chance that you could be placed in jail for even longer for trying to cover it up."

LOTS OF TEXT. Wooo.

Woo... I don't think I could let someone else take the wrap for my wrong doing. Not for somthing this serious. I'd have to set the record straight.

its not only how long your jail sentance would be if you were discovered. the question is, would be able to live with yourself knowing an innocent woman in in jail because of something you did, and she thinks that she killed a man when you are the one that did it

Wait, this isn't when you're in the "grey zone". Getting someone in jail because of something you did is completely and utterly wrong... well, I think so anyway.

But-t-t-t... maybe that lady did run over the person and you're the one who got confused, eh? lol. Erm, me? No, I'd never do that. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, knowing I'd gotten someone in jail. No. No way.

I tend to agree Amina, I don't really see this as a 'grey area' just a chance to place blame on someone elese and that's just wrong.

((& I thought the same thing when I first read this...that may be you weren't the one who hit the person. Either way, just tell the truth. They will do an ivestegation and find out who is at fault.))

lol, no one fools the crime lab. They'll find out who did it one way or another.

This is a case for CSI

i have a scenario:

you are a commander of an army at the time of war. the intelligence has informed you that your enemies have positioned their missile projector in a school full of children.
they are shooting at your people. a bomb fell near a kinder-garden. if you dont do anything, it might hit it next time.
would you blow up the school to stop the missiles on your own people?

Mmmmm, *scratches chin*. I think saving the kindergarden school would be more... right, since those are kids at stake, man. They have lives ahead.

Strategically, I'd have to say that I'd probably blow up the school.

But ethically, I wouldn't be able to. I would be disgusted with those who positioned themselves in a school to keep from being shot at. I would want to strangle every last one of them with my bare hands, and I would have my troops retreat.

the real question is, would you blow up a school full of your enemies children to vanquish the possibility that your children might get hurt?

As a general, yes I would do that. As a human being... I really don't know. I'll have to think about that. Good quiestion though.

Yeah, tough nut.

thanks. the sad thing is, i didnt make it up. this was a real decision someone had to make not so long ago.

is it? wow

yes. and in the end, they chose to bomb the school. missiles had been shot for years on cities, up to a point in which there were 90 a day. when the war broke out to stop them, and the other side shot from inside a school full of children, they had to make the other side realize that they would not stand for bombing anymore. if they hadnt, the bombers would probably hidden in other such structures because they would have known they would not be hit

uh-huh. tough desicion

Exactly. Strategically, you'd have to do it.

but as a commander, would you be able to cancel out your moral beliefs and actually do it?