My Ethical Adventure

Sometime back, on a Friday afternoon, I was arrested by city inspectorate officers for
crossing the road while on my phone, a violation of the city by-laws I was unaware of. After
being arrested and bundled into their patrol van, alongside other offenders, I was presented
with two options: first, pay a small bribe and be freed. The second was to spend the weekend
in police custody awaiting to be arraigned in court on Monday morning.
Each choice had its consequences. If I paid the bribe, I would be released and would
go about my weekend activities as planned. On the other hand, if I refused to pay the bribe,
first, I would spend the weekend in police custody at the nearby police station; and I was
made aware that the conditions there were nowhere close to spending the weekend at home.
Then, on Monday morning, I would be arraigned in court, charged with violating the by-law,
and fined at least $100, an amount significantly more than the bribe I was being asked to pay.
Not wanting the inconvenience of spending the weekend in police custody, I paid the
bribe and earned my freedom. This is not to say that the decision was easy; it was not. This
was the first time I found myself in such a situation. Moreover, paying the bribe was against
my religious and ethical beliefs.
Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, if I had been given more time to make the
decision, I would have opted to turn down the offer of bribing my way out. I would rather
have spent the weekend in a police cell and paid the court fine of $100. This is because my
decision to bribe the officers haunted my conscience for months.