Ok, so you may have noticed the new poll on this site, just below the tabs bar thingy, asking you a question:
You save up for weeks to buy a new car, but before you get to the shop, a kid comes along and steals all your money. You follow him and realise he stole the money to pay for his mother's medical treatment. She has cancer. What do you do?
So, dear friends, let me elaborate for you. I myself was asked this question, (or similar, I forget) and I'm interested as to how you'll respond before and after reading my explanation. So, if you're dedicated to read this whole thing, please now vote on the above poll.
Done?
Good :)
I'll tell you what I put now. I responded with the third option. I would not give the child any of my money. This question was on a Harry Potter quiz designed to put you in a house, and I got Slytherin. But is it really so wrong to put this answer, initially yes it does seem selfish, but think about it:
Firstly, this kid hasn't asked your permission. For all he knows you could be buying this car to drive around your recently crippled spouse, who has to regularly go to hospital for check ups. This could be your first car that you've spent years dreaming about and finally saved up enough to afford. For all he knows you could have been dreaming about this day for years, or have a greater need for the money than even he does.
Secondly, what is the money even going to get him? Surely if she has cancer, she should be seeing a doctor, I can't see what he'd need money for. The NHS isn't unreasonable, if you can't afford prescriptions and stuff they'll let you off. Aren't these people on benefits?!
Also, the money would be much better served in some kind of cancer research program. Helping one person is nothing compared to the thousands you could help that way.
It's not your fault, and it's not your problem. Mean as that may sound, there are ways of dealing with this that don't involve thievery. Maybe you donate a huge proportion of your salary to charity. Maybe this is the first thing you've bought for yourself in years. Even if the mother can't get treatment from the NHS, doesn't mean you should have to pay for all of it. Certainly not if he's stolen. He should get a job, or ask people for help. And not just one person, spread the costs.
So now I ask you, am I selfish in saying I wouldn't help this kid? Or am I just more honest with myself than most people?
At the bottom of this page is the same poll again, and after reading this I would like you to put what you would do honestly. Cast away what you'd like to think you'd do and start thinking about what you'd really do. If your answers are different, and you're okay with people knowing what you put, I'd love to have you comment on this post about what changed your mind.
Please join in, this stuff fascinates me. :)
However, please don't feel obliged to vote should you find this subject insensitive or are in any way offended. I know quite a few of the people reading this will have lost a friend to cancer recently, and mean no disrespect.
9 comments:
I can see what you're saying because you wouldn't know that he was using it for his mum and cancer. So, I guess if you didn't know, you'd think it was stealing. But, I put the middle option because if he explained to me the reasoning, i would give him the money
Yeah, the idea is you follow him and find out that's why he stole it, then you decide what you'd do. :)
Humans are naturally selfish animals, like many others. This is not, however, to do with "survival of the fittest". That is a trans-species effect and is not about direct conflict. I digress. One famous scientist (so famous I forgot his name) was once asked if he would risk drowning to save a drowning brother or sister. He paused, and replied "no... but I would for 2 siblings... or 8 cousins." This is because he knew that his DNA would pass on to the next generation, even if he were to drown (not strictly true with those numbers, but it's the idea that matters). So, from a purely scientific species survival perspective, not giving is a no-brainer. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean anything in the real world. The real question is about suffering. Do I loose out on a luxury, do we both loose out but for a shorter amount of time or do the mother and child suffer. Being the cold-hearted, 100% never been spiritual in my life kind of guy, this just doesn't come into when I make the decision. Circumstances don't come into it with the law, so I rarely think differently. Also, everyone has a right to CHOOSE where there money goes, YOU GUILT-TRIPPING CHARITY ADS AND BUCKET RATTLERS!!!!
I completely agree :)
One point I was trying to make was the car might not actually be a luxury. What if you needed to take your own cancer suffering mother to hospital and back for radio therapy or something?
I changed my mind cos I assumed it was a question made in the US before the healthcare reform the first time. Game theory says I'd be better off giving him all the money, but I don't think I could bring myself to actually do it.
deffo 3 stealing is never the answer - no matter what the cause. that kid would need to sort out his priorities. and to be totally honest, if his mother raised him to be like that....well Karma has a way of showing it.
Bad parenting may cause cancer...
I dont think it has anything to do with the mother. Although for all we know she could be putting a lot of pressure on him for money, which wouldn't be very fair, but I fail to see what they'd even need money for. Especially the amount you'd need to buy a car. With the NHS helping people without jobs, do they even need the money, or is it just an excuse? Either they've got jobs, so they can pay for themselves, or they are eligible for benefits and free treatment, either way they shouldn't be stealing from you. They don't need it.
I put the option 'let him keep some of the money' assuming that he DOES need it for treatment. Forgetting the NHS. Purely because I would probably let him borrow the money, and then help him to raise/ claim it from another source so he could pay me back. But that would be after serious words about stealing.
This is KATIE GILLINGHAM btw. Couldn't be bovvaaaaaddd to sign in to my google thingy.
Or I would claim all the money back, and then anonymously donate it.
Post a Comment