Morals

In high school I once saw a girl drop some money. I picked it up and took it, and then I saw that her friend saw me and told the girl who dropped it. She never approached me, and at the time I probably would have said "Finders, keepers." But now I think it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. So, I could write about it comparing the finders-keepers moral to be-a-good-neighbor moral. It becomes moral because you could make an argument that finders-keepers is an appropriate action, but everyone did that the world would be a terrible place. I actually think about this single act more than I do about the shoplifting I did during that same “bad phase” in high school.

Or even something that comes to mind - investing. I invest some of my money in socially conscious mutual funds, but not all. Marshall and I had a discussion last night. He was like "Why do you invest? To feel good about yourself? Or to make money?" We did end up having good discussion, because it is important to support things like that IMO, but you wouldn't want to put all your money in them because they don't always do as well as other stocks, but then I feel bad about even having mutual funds with Halliburton in them, and I probably do. Yet I wouldn't ever buy Halliburton stock directly. So what is moral? Should I put all my money in hippie-funds, or put it all in Halliburton, Wal-Mart, and DeBeers stocks? Obviously, both are extreme, and I am somewhere in the middle, and a small percent of money in conscious funds can just be part of diversification. But is it moral?

Actually, everything is moral. Turning of the water while you brush teeth is a moral act, just as not turning it off is. Taking a long commute by car, or taking the time to bike and train.