THe bear's new morality question (essay)

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-07-24 12:19am

a man in his seventies, comes up to you. He is suffering from Alzheimers, but is convinced that you are his older brother, who he has not seen since the end of the second world war. The old man concludes by forcing a locked briefcase into your hands, saying that you had given it to him for safe keeping until he saw you again. (remember he thinks your his older brother). From the conversation, you get some idea about the old man's dementia, and that his brother was/is some sort of fugitive.

What do you do with the briefcase?

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2006-07-24 12:43am

It's pretty complicated. Given how long the briefcase was originally given to the man, the brother is either long dead, has no need for it, or may have forgotten it from a similar form of dementia.

Accepting the briefcase would give the man a lot of peace of mind, since he had "accomplished" his "mission". But his condition, being no doubt severe enough that he'd mistake a 23 year old (me) for his brother, he may not even remember our meeting. So he'd probably start kicking himself later when he can't find it, fearing that he failed his brother.

I'd probably try to find out more about the old man. Given his condition, he probably either lives in pretty sad shape or stays at a home and managed to sneak off somehow. If he has handlers of some kind, they'd probably want to know where he is (assuming the latter in his living state), and they'd be able to give me some insight as to how to handle the briefcase situation.

As for the contents, I'd probably be curious enough to look. I'd be really uncomfortable taking it, for example, if it were filled with cash. But, being a collector of antiques (particularly wartime antiques), I'd probably want to add any neat mementos to my collection if everything checked out with my first step delineated above.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-07-24 12:49am

having been mistaken for an older brother who died "over there" in 1918 back in 1988, It's not to difficult for an alzheimer's patient to do this. This is also based on my experiences working at a geriatrics hospital with a patient who was one of the people that worked on the "Trinity" projecct as was convinced that all shadows were "Japanese Ghosts" out to get him.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2006-07-24 12:55am

Does the old man remember what's in it? I was thinking that a way to avoid taking the briefcase and causing the man to hit himself if he realized later on that he gave it to the wrong person, would be to ask him if he wanted to open it with you.

Talanth · Post by **Talanth** » 2006-07-24 02:36pm

I woud try take the old man back to his carers. If he was liveing alone then I'd notify social services (hypothetical, benificient beings bless the UK for our eficient social services system!) and keep checking in on him as often as I could. If that were not posable I'd take the cased and write him a 'thank you' note so he has solid proufe in his hands that the cases are safe with his 'brother' (BTW I'm a lass!) and would donate them to a museum unopened.

SoX · Post by **SoX** » 2006-07-24 04:04pm

I would first probably start looking for somekind of hidden camera, damn these shows come up with weird shut to laugh at. Then I would probably follow him for a short while to see if he returned to any carers and hand the briefcase to them explaining what had happened. If he has no carersi would hand the case into the police and head on my with my life.