Question

You are on holiday in Bali with your spouse and 18-year-old son. You have been there for a week and are ready to head home. All three of you are at the airport getting ready to board your plane, when an armed officer comes around with a sniffer dog. You have all your bags on a trolley. The dog passes by the bags of you and your spouse, but begins barking when it reaches your sons' bag.

Your son appears obviously anxious. A year ago he had a problem with prescription drugs but has since turned his life around. At first you feel angry that he would do such a thing and start planning your responsibility lecture, but then you realize that you are in Bali, and they have a zero-tolerance policy on drugs, meaning your son could be jailed for life, or worse, executed, if he does have some illicit materials in his bag. You look at your spouse and realize they have come to the same conclusion and has gone pale with fear.

The armed officer accompanying the dog finds a baggie of drugs in your sons' bag. The officer looks at you and asks “Whose bag is this?”

Should you save your son and claim the bag is yours?

Answer 1

There are two possible answers. The question is put in such a way where it easily triggers two conflicting answers, but one side of the answer being logically correct and the other side of the answer being emotionally right.

However, let me take the role of an empathetic father. It is true that whosoever commits a crime, let them and only them be judged. But it is even more right and justified when you are able to take the punishment for the one who deserves on yourself, will probably open the heart of the one who deserves to repent and therefore change his life completely. In fact, this is the greatest expression of love. And we have seen such expressions very rarely but they do exist. It was Mahatma Gandhi who took non-violence approach to drive out the British out of India. It was Martin King Luther Jr. who gave his life for the freedom of blacks. So, my point here is, when we do such rhetoric acts, it really changes the heart of the one who deserved punishment.

So, I would want to be a father who could take such a punishment on myself in order to teach my son a lesson and instill great values that can never be forgotten. In this way, my actions as a father would be truly justified. For who is a father who never wants his son to have the right morals? Any father would go to an extent of saving their son, in order to help the son, understand what life all about is, more so, what can be the repercussions for being a deviant person which will help the son realize the ultimum principles of life.