by Cactus Jack » Thu Jul 21, 2022 8:55 pm
The humble supermarket trolley, seen in every supermarket, as many streets and rivers and let’s not forget the occasional front garden might not seem a barometer of social ills and morality but according to some moral philosphers it’s a curiously effective, and classless, diagnostic tool of moral character.
We all need the supermarket trolley at some time or another. And the supermarket trolley has no function other than to transport items around a shop and into the car park where, once unloaded, it becomes a test of your moral character.
We all know what we should do. Trolley parks are plentiful and conveniently located so that minimal effort is required to put the supermarket trolley back into a designated area where it can easily be found and used by the next person.
If you found the shopping trolley in such a designated area you are merely paying forward the kindness that was shown to you. If you did not find the trolley in such a designated area you are ensuring that the next person does not experience the unnecessary inconvenience to which you were subjected.
Returning the trolley to a designated area is therefore a correct and moral thing to do.
But…
It is not illegal to just abandon your trolley where it lies, even it is blocking a disabled parking bay.
You will not be arrested.
You will not be fined.
No-one will take your children from you.
Society will not ostracise you,
Golf clubs will not black ball you or strip you of membership and women will not cover their young children’s faces for fear that seeing so clearing unthinking and savage a brute will damage them emotionally.
The choice whether to perform a simple task requiring little effort and no cost for the good of society relies entirely on your moral character.
Are you the sort of person who only does the right thing for fear of punishment or the sort of person who does the right thing because it’s right?
It all sounds a bit hokey to me, but what do you think?
The humble supermarket trolley, seen in every supermarket, as many streets and rivers and let’s not forget the occasional front garden might not seem a barometer of social ills and morality but according to some moral philosphers it’s a curiously effective, and classless, diagnostic tool of moral character.
We all need the supermarket trolley at some time or another. And the supermarket trolley has no function other than to transport items around a shop and into the car park where, once unloaded, it becomes a test of your moral character.
We all know what we should do. Trolley parks are plentiful and conveniently located so that minimal effort is required to put the supermarket trolley back into a designated area where it can easily be found and used by the next person.
If you found the shopping trolley in such a designated area you are merely paying forward the kindness that was shown to you. If you did not find the trolley in such a designated area you are ensuring that the next person does not experience the unnecessary inconvenience to which you were subjected.
Returning the trolley to a designated area is therefore a correct and moral thing to do.
But…
It is not illegal to just abandon your trolley where it lies, even it is blocking a disabled parking bay.
You will not be arrested.
You will not be fined.
No-one will take your children from you.
Society will not ostracise you,
Golf clubs will not black ball you or strip you of membership and women will not cover their young children’s faces for fear that seeing so clearing unthinking and savage a brute will damage them emotionally.
The choice whether to perform a simple task requiring little effort and no cost for the good of society relies entirely on your moral character.
Are you the sort of person who only does the right thing for fear of punishment or the sort of person who does the right thing because it’s right?
It all sounds a bit hokey to me, but what do you think?