First off, let me give a definition of moral obligation. Moral obligation is known as a duty which one owes, and which he ought to perform, but which he is not legally bound to fulfill. Imagine a world where every moral obligation was ignored. Of course, the world isn't falling apart around us, but where is the compassion, sympathy, and especially the morality in our fellow man? Nowhere to be seen. Gone. In some instances, fulfilling a moral obligation can be beneficial. I will be sharing one of these instances with you today.
The story begins with a 55-year-old man. Billy Ray Harris was homeless. He lived on a street corner in Kansas City and would often be seen holding out a tin cup and asking passers-by for spare change. But then, one day, a moral act of kindness went in his favor. In February 2013, Sarah Darling passed Billy Harris at his usual spot and dropped some change into his cup. But, unknown to her, she also accidentally dropped in her very expensive engagement ring. I can't lie and say Harris didn't debate on selling the ring for a profit. However, he decided to hold onto it instead, in case the woman returned.
Harris knew he wasn't someone who could take that women's ring. Sounds like a moral obligation to me. Wrapping the story up, the woman did come back later to retrieve her ring and was grateful for his honesty and kindness. She and her husband launched a fundraiser for Harris. They've collected more than $190,000, more than enough to get Harris back on his feet.
Moral obligation at times is based on the Golden Rule which is "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and the basic idea is that consistency requires that a person treat others as she would wish to be treated. A famous English poet named John Donne once wrote, "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved. in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
