02sep08philosophy
The Chocolate Dilemma
Suppose you are in a remote village full of extremely poor people where children have not heard of such a thing called chocolate. My question is:
Is it right to offer chocolates to the children of the village?
The question may look extremely straightforward but it is not.
What’s good about giving the chocolate
Of course, the children are going to relish the chocolate – all children do. You’ll probably make their day!
What’s bad about giving the chocolate
Think about it, the happiness is short lived. Once the chocolate is over, dissatisfaction will set in. By giving them the chocolate, you have introduced one more desirable thing in their lives that they cannot afford to buy. You’ll probably make their condition worse!
Of course I am making certain assumptions about the maturity levels of the children. Maybe they are mature enough to live with the dissatisfaction. As kids we all had things we wanted but could not buy – like a Sony Playstation. But we did not spend our days and nights thinking about it. The dissatisfaction was short lived.
Probably these kids would stop thinking about chocolates pretty soon. They won’t be dissatisfied for very long. The pleasure of eating one will outweigh the short amount of dissatisfaction thereafter.
But well, maybe they are not that mature! Maybe they WILL probably long for a chocolate.
What do YOU think? Is it right to give chocolates to these children?