Final Word: ‘Take it and run’

By Paul Moore

Some years ago I was coming out of the bank I used at that time and stumbled over a plastic shopping bag which clearly had something in it. On inspection it turned out to be a large sum of money in neatly-wrapped note piles, a sum which I later discovered to be £2,500.

This was at a time when money actually had some worth. I spent a good deal of time motionless on the street that day deciding what I should do. In the end I took it back into the bank, assuming someone had dropped it coming out and gave my name and address.

Now before anyone goes thinking I was deeply-honest, I was not. During my motionless time on the street I had weighed up as many of the possibilities as I could. Had someone seen me lift the bag? Was it a plant to see how people would behave?

Were there CCTV cameras anywhere which might have caught me picking the bag up? Did it belong to some unfortunate individual or did it belong to a larger corporation that would not miss it anyway? In the end there were too many variables for me not to end up a neurotic wreck if I had taken it home, so for my own sanity I went and gave it in.

The moral issue was in fact the last to be considered.

Those of you who are outraged and proclaiming you would ‘always do the right thing’ have clearly not been following the debate that has surrounded the television programme The Traitors. I have never seen an episode of said show but it does not take too much genius to work out it is about so-called friends betraying each other for a cash prize. This has led to a number of commentators suggesting that as citizens, we have become much less honest than we previously were.

Honesty is measured by the British Social Attitudes (BSA) organisation and these are a few of the scenarios they use to gather information. You can test yourself for your own honesty.

If someone who is on benefits takes a casual job which leaves him with an extra £550 in his pocket, is that dishonest? Would you take a day off work and ring in to say that you were ill? Would you tell the shop assistant if he/she gave you too much change after a purchase? Would you tell a small lie if it was to keep you from having to admit you were wrong?

You might also want to try the scenarios out on other members of your household just to be sure you are not surrounded by conniving liars and cheats.

The problem is that we will always fall back for excuses on the context of these questions. Is it someone I know?; are they short of money?; is it doing anyone else any harm? As soon as we start being equivocal then the idea of a fixed moral compass goes out the window and we end up in a place where we have to question our own integrity. I also know that I have friends for whom I would do whatever I needed to do to help them without necessarily examining the morality of that help. They are very few in number I hasten to add.

So perhaps we are not less honest, merely more complicated and not willing to accept the idea of a fundamental set of rules. But I would say that, would I not?

As for my earlier money bag dilemma, I later found out it did indeed belong to a larger establishment that did not even offer me a thank you, never mind a free box of chocolates. Had I known that as I stood on the Omagh street they might never have seen their £2,500 again. But that is between me and my conscience.