There is a grocery store down the street from where we live. AJ wanted to get out of the house last night after dinner so I took him and his older brother to the store. While we were there, we decided to buy an orange and some bananas. JD had the stuff in a basket but I gave one of the bananas to AJ to hold. After checking out and getting part of the way home, I discovered that we forgot to pay for the banana AJ was holding. Faced with the decision of returning to the store to pay for (or return) the extra banana or continue to head home, I chose the latter. It was getting late and it was an innocent mistake. We didn't intentionally shoplift the banana.
This whole incident left me uneasy. Is there a difference between stealing a banana and embezzling money from a company? Does it make a difference if you did it intentionally or if it was an accident? Does the size / value of the item make a difference? After the fact, how do you make things right? You can be very black and white about these things or you can say that practicality calls for shades of grey. I don’t think there is a single right answer on this topic. The thing that I worry about, at least for myself, is getting into a habit of doing the “right” thing. It’s convenient when the “right” thing is also the “easy” thing. The real challenge is when it’s not. I worry that if I’m relativistic about small things, I’ll be the same way about large things.
In this particular case, I decided to go back to the store this morning and pay for the banana. The cashier was thoroughly confused about what I was doing. She couldn’t figure out why I was buying a banana but didn’t actually want to take it. And my wife pointed out that I probably caused the store to take a lose on the whole thing – given the need to restock the banana, etc. But choosing to stop at the store on my way to work and handing over the 27 cents made me feel better. It took all this off my mind. So, I guess it was worth it.
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In the Screwtapes Letters, one of the things that C.S. Lewis says at the end of Chapter XII (via Screwtape) is:
You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
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