Acts and Omission

In Class

I have an example of acts and omission that I was too afraid to share in class for two reasons - I am ashamed for not doing anything (omission) and a few people in class would know what/who I am talking about.

I know a person, M, who seems to not have any friends. M does not have a friend who M can walk to class with, talk to, or eat together during lunch time. If I was in M's situation, I would feel lonely, because I belong to nowhere. I believe that many people know about M, but I feel guilty about M having no friends and I feel that it could possibly my fault that M is lonely. Why? Because I do not do anything even if I know about M's situation, I do not do anything even if I can sense that M wants to be my friend. I just didn't do anything.

If there was a way for me to defend myself, I would use ethical egoism - to do what is in my self-interest. (Sigh, sigh, sigh...I sound so mean) M wants to be my friend, but I don't want to be M's friend, so even though I most probably am hurting M's feelings, I take no care towards M's friendly gestures and actions. Honestly, if I feel guilty, and if I feel embarrassed enough to not show this story in class (emotion as a Way of Knowing), my actions are probably unethical. How can I just act as if everything is alright when I know that a person is lonely and needs friendship? How can I carry on with my life happily when I know that someone I know is sad? My moral teachings tell me, in a rational and reasonable way, that I should help M. On the other hand, my heart or my emotions tell me that I do not want to be involved in M's life.

I hope that you won't think too badly of me after reading this blog post.

Source of Image: http://capping.slis.ualberta.ca/cap08/MelindaSpears/train%20tracks.jpg