We are all hunkered down. Or if not all of us are yet, we
should be. But even as most of us remain firmly in place, all sorts of people
are venturing out in an often-heroic effort to support others in need.
The rest of us spend our days working from home, reaching
out to family, improving the stock share price of any number of online video
conferencing services, and trying to bring some sense of normalcy to what are
not normal times. Occasionally, we assess what we have in stock: food,
toiletries, medicine, books and what we might need more of. We then reassess to
determine what we really need rather than what in more mobile times would be
nice to have.
Groceries seem a real need. But even occasional trips to
the grocery store seem fraught. When some markets advertise early morning hours
specifically for shoppers older than 60, a demographic more susceptible to the
ravages of coronavirus, online chat boards are filled with advice that because
those early mornings tend to be packed with old people, the best time to go is
soon after their special hours end. Other markets are offering curbside pickup
after an order is called in.
Many don't feel safe venturing out at all. An old friend
(older than I am) sings the praises of a woman he's never met whom he paid to
deliver $400 worth of groceries to his garage. "I've never actually met
her, but I am ready to adopt her," he writes.
But another reader finds herself in a quandary.
"My husband and I are in high-risk categories for
Covid-19," she writes. She suffers from asthma, he from a heart condition.
"We are avoiding setting foot in supermarkets or other stores." Where
they live, however, curbside pickup is not an option.
"Is it OK to accept offers to pick up groceries by
friends who are, because of age, also at high risk?" she asks. "I
don't think they should be taking chances either. I'm risk averse, and they are
not."
If she truly believes it is wrong to ask her friends to
do a task she herself would not do, then the right thing is not to ask them.
Based on all the available information they have, her friends are right to
decide for themselves how they will acquire their groceries.
They may not be able to get groceries as quickly as
they'd like or as quickly as they might if they ventured out themselves or if
friends dropped stuff off, but they have options if they are willing to wait a
few days. Last I checked, Costco's two-day delivery was taking five to six
days. Amazon Prime delivery windows for groceries from Whole Foods were several
days out from the time of order as well. Peapod, another delivery service
seemed to have a shorter turnaround time, but still required patience.
Patience and safety over immediacy seems prudent and the
right thing to do.
Yes, we should not ask others to do what we wouldn't do
ourselves out of safety concerns. We might also find these curious times call
for doing careful assessments of what we really need and then planning ahead
accordingly.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today's Business and The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School.
Follow him on Twitter: @jseglin
Do you have ethical questions that you need answered? Send them to rightthing@comcast.net.
(c) 2020 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
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