The Implications of Lost-Button Morality

Daniel found a button outside the grocery store the other day. It was biggish, and looked like it probably belonged to a coat, and that sent me into ethical paralysis beyond even my own standard neurotic benchmark. Shouldn't we put it back on the ground, in case the person who lost it came by? I was really torn about this one, and meanwhile, Daniel was having none of it. But I took one last shot at trying to get Daniel to put it back, and his counterproposal, although it was probably sincere, gave me a sense of how ridiculous I was probably being in wanting to get this important blue button back to its rightful owner. [Pardon the unusual syntax: this was really how he phrased it...]:

"Maybe if we can go around town and ask if it's somebody's."

I decided against spending the remainder of Thursday evening canvassing Andover, Massachusetts with three children to see whether the button belonged to anyone that we met.

(March 20, 2011)