Monday, December 30, 2013

The Challenge of Ethical Quandries

Monday, December 30, 2013


Among the many pieces of my life I am currently giving attention is the resolution of an issue of harassment I experienced earlier this year. The situation became quite complex. The basic scenario appears below.

At the beginning of 2013 I became a member of a local chorus here in Minneapolis. A few months later I moved into the home of one of the members of the chorus and began renting a bedroom from him. This man also happens to be on the Board of Directors. Then June came and "all hell broke loose". I wasn't expecting to get diagnosed with PTSD. I also was not expecting to be sick for much of the month of June nor begin experiencing harassment after speaking my mind (and heart) on June 13th at the chorus' annual meeting. These circumstances prompted me to choose to take a Leave of Absence from the organization.

This past autumn, once I was finally physically and emotionally stronger, I decided to approach the organization's administration with a complaint of harassment. My request to speak directly to the Board of Directors about the issue was not granted. I then decided to push the issue harder. I was eventually granted an opportunity to speak to the Executive Committee of the chorus on December 5th. I felt the meeting was productive and left it feeling hopeful that a suitable resolution could be found to honor the needs of all concerned. Then came last week.

Last Monday I made a visit to the Minneapolis Animal Care and Control Department. In speaking with an animal control officer I learned that there were some requirements in place for the care of one of my landlord's dogs. This past August I agreed to take care of my landlord's dogs while he was away on a trip. He never informed me of these particular requirements relevant to the one dog. I also learned why the requirements were in place. At some point earlier in the dog's history it jumped the backyard fence and killed another dog. Had I known this history prior to August I would have been able to make a more informed choice when my landlord asked me to care for his dogs.  

You can easily imagine I was quite angry when I learned this information last week. By failing to give me information about how to properly care for the dog (the requirements necessitate the dog be in a muzzle and on a leash whenever it is outside of its enclosed pen in the backyard) I feel my landlord put me and the dog at heightened risk of harm. I believe it possible I could have a real claim in court against my former landlord for negligence. And I think this situation is even more grotesque because my landlord knew of my PTSD diagnosis. I would imagine a person of sound mind and judgment might consider it important to disclose to his tenant that one of his dogs is under special care requirements due to a past act of lethal aggression. And I would think that it would be even more important to disclose such information given the health issues I was addressing at the time. But then again...people are weird.


Since learning this information regarding my now former landlord's dog I have thought through the circumstances of harassment I was subjected to earlier this year. I have heard from a number of men who resigned from the chorus in 2013 that one reason they left was due to the dysfunctional politics of the chorus Board of Directors. When I think through all the information I now have at my hands I find myself struggling with the following question: Do I have an ethical responsibility to disclose what I believe is my landlord's unethical conduct (that has nothing to do directly with the chorus) to the chorus administration? At first it might seem I do not. But I can't help but wonder how I would feel if I learned later that a member of the organization was physically harmed as a consequence of the negligence of the Board of Directors to address some pressing issue. I have already reported my landlord to the Animal Care and Control Department. But should I also allude to my landlord's conduct in this other venue? I am struggling with this now.

What this issue and many other unfortunate incidents in my life have in common is the theme of unhealthy boundaries. Now I will share another story of an unfortunate incident to further illustrate my point. On Sunday, December 22, while riding the bus through town, I was witness to a heated verbal argument that eventually devolved into a fist fight. Once fists were flying I promptly got off the bus. What amazed me was that the bus driver did nothing to address the growing tension in the bus as those involved hurled hurtful words at each other. It continued to escalate and escalate and yet the driver gave the issue no direct attention from what I could see. I do not know what happened once I got off the bus (because obviously I was not there).

In the issue with my landlord's dog as well as this incident on the bus there was the common problem of what to do when people do not behave in a responsible way. I feel my landlord was very careless in his failure to disclose information relevant to his dog's care. And I felt the bus driver was careless in failing to address an escalating argument that could potentially have ended much worse (as in with gunfire). I never saw anyone brandish a gun on the bus but it's quite possible someone did have a weapon that could have been used if events had unfolded differently.

And so here I sit with the question regarding this chorus and its Board of Directors. Should I disclose the fact that I feel so uncomfortable being around my former landlord that I would not want to be in the same room with him? Should I attempt to disclose the nature of his conduct I believe could be relevant for the organization to know? Should I simply allude to it without providing the details?

Yesterday I prepared a resignation letter to submit to the organization. I have not yet sent it. I am sitting with this question of what would be the ethical choice to make.






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