Ethical Dilemma

Ethical Dilemma

There have been many times in my life that I feel I have had to make an ethical decision and, for the most part, I feel that I have always tried to do the right thing, not just for myself but for everyone else that would be affected by my decisions. Although there are decisions that I have made that only benefited me and might have hurt someone else or did the greatest good for all, the one that stands out to me involves my mother and her second husband Rudi. This was a dilemma for me almost on a daily basis for the two years I lived on their property.

My mom has been married for approximately 20 years to Rudi and I have known him since I was almost 15 years old. This happened when I was about 21. My mother and Rudi own 6 acres of property out side of Greenleaf, ID, which is a very small town 60 miles northwest of Boise, Idaho. I had a house at the front part of their property and they lived in a house at the back portion of their property. Rudi and I really didn't get along, but he had done a lot for my mom and me so I tolerated being around him and helping him. Rudi was an alcoholic though and drank on a daily basis starting at about two or three in the afternoon. He would leave his shop and walk down to the bar at the end of the block where he would sit and drink for the rest of the afternoon. He would then come back to the shop, get in his Jeep and drive home to hopefully get there before my mom got did. I was home during the week, usually before he was, and I would see him as he drove down the driveway in front of my house. I could tell how much he had been drinking by the stupid look on his face. Most of the time he would just go into the house and pass out and try and sleep it off before my mom got home. But on days he might not have drank quite so much, his favorite thing to do was to jump on his tractor and grade the driveway. That way my mom wouldn't get close to him before he had time to sober up. Rudi always tried to hide how much he drank and how drunk he was when my mom was around, and when she did confront him, it always ended up in an argument. Rudi never beat her up or threaten her, but once in awhile he would get back in his Jeep and drive off. I often knew that he was too drunk to drive, but how could I call the police and have my mom's husband arrested for a DUI? So most of the time I would just watch him drive out of the driveway right back to the bar, and not say anything to my mom or doing anything myself. Once in a while I would walk down and talk to my mom, but she didn't want to hear it, and she would say that he could handle it and he'd be fine.

After I noticed this happening more often, and it seemed he was getting drunker, I did decide to act. Rudi came home one afternoon, clearly very drunk, jumped on his tractor and started to grade the driveway. As he was getting to the end of