What if you were stuck in a moral dilemma?

Moral dilemma is a kind of situation where you have to make a difficult choice because all choices entails breaking moral rules. It would be really hard for anyone of us to be in such situation. We would not want to compromise a moral standard or two.

However, there is still some things we can do to solve a dilemma. Here are some steps:

1. You must identify whether there is really a moral dilemma or issue. Are there conflicts in moral values and rights?

2. Determine the principles and moral values. What do these competing principles and values mean?

3. Weigh these values and rank them according to normative ethical theories and principles. What are the negative and positive outcomes of all choices available? What are the possible consequences of your decision? How can you justify and reason that your choice is better than the other? Which option outweighs the other? How would you feel if you do this option and disregard the other one?

4. Expect with certainty the results and impact of the ethical choice on your ordinary life. Will you be responsible of your decision? How will you stand firm and uphold accountability for it, without guilt and doubts? How get over it and move forward?

Here is a possible scenario. Imagine you are an employee at a private firm. You caught two managers in your department talking about how they manipulated and fabricated data to conceal their theft. You had recorded the act to serve as an evidence then they saw you recording it. One of them confronts you and offers you a large sum of money if you will delete the recording. He might also promote you in a higher position. Coincidentally, you need money to pay for your mother’s medical fees as she is in need of immediate treatment and you do not know where to get enough money. The managers also confessed they are in need of money to support their families. However, the funds stolen by them were donations for your company’s charity program for cancer patients.

There is a conflict of values in the dilemma. Choosing the option of reporting the crime is exercising the value of honesty and truth and also helping the company and the beneficiaries of the charity. Choosing to stay quiet is showing compassion not to the managers, but to their families and it also means you are saving your mother to perform your duty as a her family. Will you choose your loved ones and your colleagues or the company you are working on and the beneficiaries that are strangers to you? You can choose either of the choices. Both have their own pros and cons. You need to weigh them.

Reporting the theft is just the right thing to do. You are only being truthful and honest to your principles. However, reporting the crime will be destroying someone else’s lives. The ones who did the crime have their own families to support. The future of their children may be affected. You also have your own family you can help when you accept their offer. As long as no one will know, you can be safe. Not only that, you would not destroy a family and everything would be easier for you. Your mother will be treated and your promotion will go a smoother flow with their help. You have a brighter future if you will choose to help them conceal their theft.

Choosing to stay quiet may give you a better life now and in the future. However, it may prove to do more harm than good. When in that situation of confrontation, you may be pressured and tempted do what works better for yourself. Your emotions will get the better of you. It is true that as long as no one will know, the crime will stay only within your knowledge and you can live your life forgetting it. Nevertheless you have to think more critically. Letting a crime happen is tantamount to being an accomplice of it. Letting it happen will allow them to do more crimes that may be much worse than what they did. You are only continuing the cycle of doing bad. Reporting the crime is the right choice. You should help your mother in a way that she will not be guilty of. You should save their families from having someone justify their evil acts through them. You should not deprive the beneficiaries of what they were promised to receive.

Considering the situation, it is hard to choose especially if you are currently in a tight personal situation. However, choose the one you will not be guilty of in the future. It is better to rise in ranks and solve your own problems in a fair way. It is better to uphold fairness and justice.

 Good night everyone! Stay safe always!