[Engaged] The Case of the Disappearing Water

[Shoka]

Doshin,

Maybe I am jaded because of my personal experiences. However if the severity of stealing falls along a continuum I guess each of us determines where that judgement falls based upon who we are at the time.

Doshin,

I think you hit the nail on the head here.

In college I studied political science, and I remember some of the papers I wrote and what I argued. A decade later, I wouldn't write any of them the same way. Some might be similar but some I would take the exact opposite view point now.

As we go through topics like this, I think it's important to remember that each person is at a different point in their life and where they stand. There are very few times that anyone is absolutely right or absolutely wrong.

Plot Twist...if I may?

Same scenarios above..BUT...

You are Native American, and had been a Water Protector at the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests.

Would this change your point of view? Why?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Koki,

Funny enough, I think you are making the exact same point as Doshin. Someone who is Native American and has been a water protector will probably have a different view point than some like me who is white middle class.

That's part of why I feel it's important to have conversations like this; because we each get to share what went into making the decision and why. Through sharing that process the Native American water protector can possibly change how I look at access to water. Because many there is something in their thought process on it that I hadn't considered before.

I know I'm a work in progress, and everything I read, hear and share changes me continually. Does it always change me for the better? Who knows, but it will change me.

Gassho,

Shoka
sattoday

[Tai Do]

Shoka,
Thank you for this interesting exercise in ethical thinking.
In 2014, my wife and I moved to Maceió, in Northeast Coast of Brazil (now we are in the interior of Bahia). My mother had a house in the city that hadn’t been used for some years and she let us live there. The house needed a little reform. In doing it we discovered that the neighbor house had installed a water pipe stealing water from our house. Their house was more than twice the size of ours and even had a pool. We didn’t talk to them, only disconnected the pipe.
I think, at least here in Brazil, the most plausible scenario would be of neighbors stealing your water. Homeless people, at least the here, tend to ask for water, not steal, as they want you to help them in the future as well.
I would probably do the same thing I did and just close the water so the ones who were stealing couldn’t do it any more. If they really need, they will come and talk to me, asking for permission.
But this is based on my experiences here in my country. I really don’t know how things are in the United States.
Gassho,
Sat today

[Tairin]

I think you nailed it Mateus. If I had found out that someone was regularly taking water from my outside tap, I’d simply turn off the shutoff from inside. No confrontation. Just shut off the source.


Tairin
Sat today and lah