Though 16 years old, I am short for my age, and look younger. So when I buy a train ticket, I am often charged a child rate even though, at 16, I should pay an adult fare. I never specify what kind of ticket I need, and the clerks assume my age incorrectly. Should I correct them and reveal that I should pay the full fare at my age, or assume it is their mistake?
It is true that adults hardly set a good example in the area of keeping a low profile and hoping that nobody will ask awkward questions that might expose them as charlatans and frauds.
Politicians, in particular, are famous for hoping that, if they keep their lips sealed, the public might give them the benefit of the doubt, and might imagine even that they have insightful contributions to make should a major national debate arise. Then a major national debate arises and Clare Short gets up to speak and blows the cover for the lot of them.
Some people think that a smart course through life is to do nothing and to say less; which is fine if you are an amoeba. Otherwise, it can be construed as a form of calculated deception. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, may be non-committal about whether he’ll return to making movies if voted out of office as a shrewd way of keeping people voting for him.
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Not lying to a train-ticket seller about your age does not make you any less guilty of having defrauded the train company than a criminal who doesn’t confess to a crime, or who doesn’t hand himself in to the nearest police station, would be not guilty of having broken the law. You aren’t innocent; it’s just that you haven’t been found out. You might as well say that Everest was not the tallest mountain in the world until it was measured by Sir George Everest.
Facing a dilemma
Have you a dilemma of your own?
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