ACCEPTING FRUITS OF IMMORALITY

Carl and Philip were brothers. Michael, their father, was a successful businessman who made a fortune in second-hand automobile sales, and parts distribution. What was not common knowledge, but what these two brothers knew was that he made an awful lot more in illegal drug smuggling. Carl and Philip both knew a much darker side of their father. Financially, he was good to them though. The boys were never in need. As far as being a provider, Michael could not be faulted.

Carl took his opportunities of attending the best schools and was always a model student. He made his parents proud when at 26 years old he was called to the bar. He distinguished himself in his legal practice and was loved and admired by all. His younger brother Philip, however, was a troubled youth. He would often be in the principal's office for unruly and indiscipline behaviour. He seemed to have trouble with authority on the whole, but there was a particularly pointed anger towards his father. They grew further apart during Philip's struggles in overcoming his cocaine dependency.

Philip never felt comfortable knowing his father's criminal side and blamed him for his own failings. He knew too many youths who were ruined by drugs. There was this internal struggle going on inside of his spirit. He loved his father but hated the things he did. How could he accept all the things his father gave him? Things he knew were bought with the blood money of his father's nefarious deeds. The verbal fights between father and son never abated until he eventually made it through school with mediocre grades and migrated to Canada. Ten years later he had returned to his father's mansion. His dad had died.

Carl was surprised to see his brother. No one could have contacted him. As they met in the driveway, Carl hugged him saying, "I did not know how to get in touch with you. I was not sure you knew."

Philip with a hint of a smile assured his brother, "I always keep up to date with things here."

Carl: Well, you must let us keep up with you also.

Ever so slowly they strolled together toward the house as if to stretch time itself, reminiscing the more pleasant times of the past.

Carl: How long can you stay?

Philip: I really should go back as soon as possible. Things could go crazy at the garage sometimes.

Carl: You know he left a substantial portion of the estate for you. You do not have to work that garage.

Philip: No, I did not know. That is a surprise. He knew how I felt about his business.

Carl: Oh, give the man his final wish, would you! It is who he was; it is all he had to give.

Philip: Did it not ever bother you? I mean Dad's other business.

Carl: Look, he had his own life. He lived it however he wanted. It is neither my place nor yours for that matter to judge him. He did his best to raise us. Does that not matter to you?

Philip: Yes, but he mattered more. He was my Dad and I loved him.

Carl: It did not seem so when we were growing up.

"How could this man be so callous?" Philip thought. With the pain of his brother challenging his love for their father he swiftly countered, "If I did not care about him, about who he was, about what he did, I suppose then I could have been more like you and think only about how I could have benefited from his blood money. Yes, there was a lot of conflict between Dad and me, but it is only because I refused to remain comfortable in an unacceptable situation. I chose to see what you were too afraid to acknowledge. I know that everyone saw me as the black sheep, -the troublemaker. I suppose some people can be perfectly at peace by ignoring problems or troubling situations, but I think that real peace comes from acknowledging the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you, and if the truth leads to conflict, then you just have to deal with it, not sidestep it, not go around it because it will not go away. I am glad for my inner conflicts because it tells me that I am still alive. My peace never came from an absence of conflict but from dealing with my inner struggles."

Carl could only stare momentarily at his brother in response. His gaze slowly lowered to the ground. After a long silence he muttered, "we are not that different, we just deal with our inner conflicts in different ways." I loved my father, and I knew of his underworld dealings, and like you, I was uncomfortable with them. But what could I have done? I certainly was not going to be rude to my father. I chose to use the blood money as you put it, to be in a position where I could be independent of Dad's dark world. Now I have found my peace. I choose now not to live in the past as you chose to run from yours."

Was Philip wrong to distance himself from his father, whose lifestyle generated uneasiness in his conscience?

Was Philip "running from his past," as Carl put it?

Was Philip wrong to challenge his father's illegal dealings?

Was Carl wrong in not challenging his father's criminal business dealings?

Did Carl have a choice in using his father's ill-gotten wealth to continue his education?

Between the brothers who do you think loved the father more?

Do you tend to get angrier with the people you love than with people you care less about?

If the person you love most is desperately ill and needs expensive medical treatment to survive, and the only person willing to help is a known ruthless drug dealer, would you accept the drug dealer's assistance on behalf of your friend?

How do you deal with internal conflicts?

Are conflicts necessarily bad things? Can they be a sign of a healthy conscience?

Can conflicts be a sign that one cares deeply about a matter or a person?

Can there be peace without conscience?

Can there be peace without a desire for justice?

Can there be peace without working for justice?

Can some sort of peace exist in the heart of someone who has serious internal conflicts, if that person has a plan of how to resolve the offending situation?

If anyone has a choice to refuse ill-gotten goods, yet still accepts them, is that person guilty of stealing?

If a friend offered you something you really wanted but you knew that he obtained it through dishonest means, would you accept it? Would you tell him to give it back?

If you accept ill-gotten goods, does that make you as guilty as the thief?

If someone made a video where persons were engaging in immoral sexual acts, would anyone who buys the video or uses it be guilty of supporting those immoral acts?

If a friend became openly abusive toward another person and started a fight, would it be wrong to support that friend in his aggression?

How often do people remain silent when friends exploit other people?

How often do people actively or passively support the wrong doings of others?

Twenty-five years ago, Jeffery Jacelon and Curtis Harper were good friends and partners in a company. Harper was the expert in the business and ran the company while Jacelon was more of a silent partner. Over the years Harper would systematically skim funds from the company and launder them in various ingenious ways. Eventually Harper sold his share of the company to his partner. It took some time before Jacelon realized that the company was effectively bankrupt, and indeed in tremendous debt. Of course, Harper denied any wrongdoing, and none was possible to prove anyway.

Jeffery Jacelon lost everything, -his house, his business, his good name, while his former partner was extremely well set at the expense of his friend. Jacelon and Harper each had a daughter. The daughters grew up as best friends, but both knew what had happened in the business of their fathers. In time both Jeffery and Curtis died and left whatever they had to their respective daughters. Jacelon's daughter remained quite poor while Harper's continued knowingly to reap the benefits of her father's avarice.

Does Jacelon's daughter have a moral right to money stolen from her father?

Does Harper's daughter have a moral obligation to return the funds to her friend?

Should Jacelon's daughter forgive and forget what happened in the past?

Does Harper's daughter have the moral right to forget the past crimes of her father while she enjoys its fruits?

Would it serve any good purpose for Jacelon's daughter to hold any resentment in her heart for her friend because of what happened between their parents?

Would not peace be better served if she forgave the evils of their history?

Can you think of any conflict between peoples or countries in the world today, which has its roots in historical injustice?

How do you think that peace generally will be best achieved in the world? Would it be more easily achieved through forgiveness? Should injustices done many generations ago be allowed to breathe hate and resentment?

Should governments try to rectify social imbalances which are due to historical injustices of distant generations?

Activity: Do a survey of the students and some teachers in your school to determine how many accept and use pirated videos, music and illegal copies of textbooks and similar material.