Ethical Dilemma

Ethical Dilemma

A couple of years ago I was faced with a dilemma about a piece of jewelry. For my High School Graduation I received a Tiffany's bracelet which was originally my grandmothers. My grandmother gave this bracelet to my mother for her High School Graduation as well. This antique piece of jewelry had a very special place in both my mother and mines heart, since my grandmother died about ten years ago. It was a plain silver bracelet with my grandmother's initials engraved on the back band. This bracelet is not that expensive, but at the same time, irreplaceable.

One day the summer after receiving this covenant bracelet, I was at the Jersey Shore with friends. Of course I being the irresponsible one lost it in the ocean. I knew I could not tell my mother. I bought another one at the Tiffany's store and had the initials engraved. It looked exactly like the one I first received. My friends thought I was crazy to even try something like this, but in that moment, buying a replacement seemed like the right idea. I did not tell my mother or grandmother. In fact, to this day they still do not know the truth behind the silver bracelet.

I know what I did was wrong. It was not a moral action under the principles of Moral Relativism. According to my culture, not telling my relatives and deceiving them was wrong. My culture says that the truth is always the right choice. Also, culturally speaking, that bracelet would be worth more than money, and the thought of fooling my parents would be beyond unacceptable. The right choice in this situation would be to tell my mother and grandmother the truth and face the disappointment in their faces.

Telling the truth under Cultural Relativism would have been the correct decision because individuals label what is right and wrong. My parents have brought me up teaching me that lying is wrong. So, for my individual morals, what I did was absolutely wrong. There was not even a gray area. My morals are the way they are. Lying, cheating and deceiving are all wrong and not moral for my immediate society as a family. Telling the truth would be the moral and correct decision for this particular situation under the view of Cultural Relativism.

Under the view of Utilitarianism the action that I did was moral. The action of lying to my mother and grandmother was the correct choice. The reason why was it made the most amount of people happy. My mother and grandmother stayed happy knowing that I had this family air loom and would be able to pass it down to another generation. I on the other hand, was miserable at first about what I had done. It was eating at me inside to lie to my family, but I was the minority in this situation. Since the minority does not really have a say, I made the right decision as to lie.

Another policy under the Utilitarianism would be view thinking