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Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance
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Last Thursday, you went out for lunch with an acquaintance from class, a nice- enough fellow but not a candidate for lifelong friendship. As you were wolfing down your last bite of cheeseburger, you suddenly gulped and flushed: you real- ized that you had forgotten your wallet. You were flat broke. Embarrassed, you entreated your classmate to lend you five dollars, which you would, of course, pay back on Tuesday. Today is Wednesday; you forgot.
Now you are doubly embarrassed, for having had to borrow the money in the first place, for having then forgotten to pay it back when promised. You are tempted, momentarily, to ignore the entire awkward situation, just to assume – what may well be true – that your classmate has forgotten about the loan. (After all, it is only five dollars.) But maybe he hasn’t forgotten, or, at least, he’ll re- member it when he sees you. For an irrational instant, you consider dropping the course, but then you realize that would be ridiculous – the five dollars just isn’t that important. It is highly unlikely – it would be very embarrassing for him – that he would actually ask you for the money. Any way, you aren’t close friends and don’t generally talk to each other. So what’s the difference?
But now, small hints of large doubts start interrupting your day. You’ve made up your mind. You are convinced that no harm will come to you. The fellow knows none of your friends and it is hardly likely that he will announce to the class or put a personal ad in the paper that you are a “deadbeat”. And yet, it’s ruin- ing your day, and it may well ruin other days. “If only I could get rid of this guilty feeling”, you say to yourself. But it is not just a feeling; it is a new and wholly unwelcome sense of who you are. A voice inside of you (sometimes it sounds like your own voice; occasionally it seems to be your mother’s) keeps whispering, “deadbeat”, “deadbeat” (and worse). Already distracted from your work, you start speculating, “What if we all were to forget about our debts?” Your first response is that you would probably be washing dishes at the Burger Shop, since no one would ever lend anyone money and your classmate would never have lent money
Robert C. Solomon - Personal Name
1st Edtion
978-3-540-70817-9
NONE
Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance
Management
English
2007
1-319
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