Daughter: Appa, if two of your friends did something wrong, would you confront them or would you ignore them?
Me: Give me an example of such a situation.
Daughter: See, two of my best friends cheated during the test today. They copied from the textbook. Should I have reported this to the teacher or should I have looked the other way?
Me: What did you do finally?
Daughter: I told my friends that if they did it again, I would report to the teacher.
Me: Good, that settles it then.
Daughter: No, but I had told them the same thing when they had cheated last week.
Me: Yes, that does complicate things a bit; they seem to be habitual offenders…
Daughter: You haven’t answered my question. What would you have done in my place?
Me: Well, this is what is referred to by philosophers as a moral dilemma…….
Daughter: Appa, no big words and don’t try to change the topic. Tell me what you would have done.
Me: Let me put it this way. If you are walking on the road and you notice that a car is not stopping when there’s a red light on, will you keep walking or will you note the number and call up the police?
Daughter: Why should I? That’s the job of the policeman - to catch them.
Me: Isn’t it the job of the teacher to catch your friends copying then?
Daughter: It’s not the same thing. The car driver is a stranger; here I am talking about my best friends…..
Me: Same difference. In fact, you ought to go across to your headmistress and report that your teacher is not doing her job properly.
Daughter: Are you crazy?
Me: Why not? Then your headmistress will pull up your teacher. Of course, after that your teacher will kill you for squealing on her. While your two friends will get away without any punishment.
Daughter: Appa, you are absolutely of no use in a crisis. I will handle it myself.
Me: Give me an example of such a situation.
Daughter: See, two of my best friends cheated during the test today. They copied from the textbook. Should I have reported this to the teacher or should I have looked the other way?
Me: What did you do finally?
Daughter: I told my friends that if they did it again, I would report to the teacher.
Me: Good, that settles it then.
Daughter: No, but I had told them the same thing when they had cheated last week.
Me: Yes, that does complicate things a bit; they seem to be habitual offenders…
Daughter: You haven’t answered my question. What would you have done in my place?
Me: Well, this is what is referred to by philosophers as a moral dilemma…….
Daughter: Appa, no big words and don’t try to change the topic. Tell me what you would have done.
Me: Let me put it this way. If you are walking on the road and you notice that a car is not stopping when there’s a red light on, will you keep walking or will you note the number and call up the police?
Daughter: Why should I? That’s the job of the policeman - to catch them.
Me: Isn’t it the job of the teacher to catch your friends copying then?
Daughter: It’s not the same thing. The car driver is a stranger; here I am talking about my best friends…..
Me: Same difference. In fact, you ought to go across to your headmistress and report that your teacher is not doing her job properly.
Daughter: Are you crazy?
Me: Why not? Then your headmistress will pull up your teacher. Of course, after that your teacher will kill you for squealing on her. While your two friends will get away without any punishment.
Daughter: Appa, you are absolutely of no use in a crisis. I will handle it myself.
12 comments:
fantastic post saar!
reminded me of 6th std wen cheating was limited to whispering hints. We became a bit bolder later and exchanged sheets but textbook n chits were something I could never muster courage to do.
Haha...your logical reasoning rocks! :D
Your blogs are very interesting and addictive. I look for a blog posting everyday as if it were news. The reasoning in daughter-father conversation and bata-thatha stories are just amazing.
maxdavinci : so, pickpoteing was ok, but robbery wasn't, eh?
bithawk, what logical? I was fumbling....
vatsan ,thank you. I hope I will be able to post one 'newsitem' a day.
came here from usha's.very cute.BTW how old is your daughter?give her a hug from me.Linking you if you don't mind.or may be I should wait for your permission.Could I link you?
hip grandma : thanks. daughter is 11. Sure, you can link. Thanks again.
Lovely post. Your daughter sounds very sensible. Hope she tells you what happened next- would love to know!
who cares if your advice was totally useless to your daughter..
it was of immense use to me!!!
dont be surprised if you come to the SF Bay area and see a tourist attraction called the "Raj Temple"!
A place where dads come to meditate and get advice on how to tackle tricky questions..
dipali, I am too nervous to ask her.
sundar: thanks. A "snappy parental answer to a tricky question" club is a good idea.
Awesome!
Hahahahaha... really good one!
vijay, preethzz, thanks
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