Ethical Carnal Duties: Part 1

Valentines Day Letdowns

By regularguy13 – listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.

Aunt regrets stealing his virginity. She makes it right

Thursday night, Feb 13th

Harvey Fielding, the aged patriarch of the family stood and looked out with pride at the group sitting around the dinner table. Three generations were present. With him, were his daughter, daughter-In-law, and their remaining families. Harvey's wife was not with them. Unfortunately, she had passed away. So had his son, Harvey junior.

They were at his daughter-in-law’s house in Richmond, Virginia. Meadow was a widowed woman with a single child. Her daughter, Wendy, was twenty and a sophomore at Randolph-Macon College. Meadow was an only child of two deceased parents. She was raising Wendy, the patriarch’s beloved granddaughter.

Sitting across from them was his daughter, Breeze, and her family: her husband, Bill and their son, Arlo.

The group had enjoyed a good meal.

Harvey Fielding said, "I stand here a proud and happy man. These get-togethers are too short and too infrequent."

His family murmured their agreement.

He continued, "Congratulations Meadow, on being recognized by the National Association of Women Lawyers for the mentoring program you run for high school girls." My departed wife and son, God rest their souls; would be so proud, as would your own departed parents.  You are truly a daughter to me.

Everyone raised their glass and congratulated her. Then Harvey said, "Congratulations to Arlo for his scholarship to my favorite school, Randolph-Macon College. If I say so myself, it is an excellent institution of higher learning. I am pleased that you're planning to major in my favorite field; Philosophy and Ethics."

Breeze laughed and said good-naturedly, "Father, it looks like you won. Arlo has your temperament. I tried to develop his artistic side, but he has not found his creative art talents yet."  With a mentor like you, he will go far in his studies.

"Wendy caught that bug," Meadow said with a laugh. "Maybe you and I were supposed to trade kids."

Breeze was a talented artist. She inherited that skill from her mother & father. Like her mother, Breeze could draw, paint and sculpt. She and Bill earned their living selling the art they produced.

Harvey dramatically lowered his voice and said, "Arlo, happy as I am that you'll be joining your cousin Wendy at R-MC, unfortunately, I have to report that the quality of the teaching staff there has diminished significantly recently."

He was kidding and everyone knew it. They all laughed. He had retired from the college last year after thirty years of teaching philosophy and ethics. Meadow met Harvey junior as college students. Meadow had been a great student in Professor Fielding’s classes. She still credit’s her philosophy & ethics training for making her a more forceful and persuasive courtroom litigator.

He waited for the laughter to die and then said, "And lastly, let us say bon voyage to our travelers. Breeze and Bill are off tomorrow for a well-deserved, ten-day vacation to St. Bart's. While they are having fun in the sun, the rest of us will be suffering through a cold and dreary Virginia February."

Breeze said, "I'll send you all photos from the warm and sunny Caribbean."

"No thanks," Harvey chirped. "I don't need to see pictures of you two, naked."

The family laughed. Bill and Breeze were artists, but they weren't free spirits. Everyone knew them to be serious, shy, quiet souls. They would never frolic naked on a beach or anywhere else for that matter.

Harvey waited until he had everyone's attention and then he said, "I will close the night with a quote from a brilliant philosopher." He raised his glass and said, "To alcohol: the cause of, and solution to all the world's problems. At least so says Homer Simpson."

Cheers and laughter broke out. Everyone raised their glass and drank.

After the meal, Bill and Breeze said their goodbyes. They had to catch an early flight out of Baltimore-Washington Airport and they were spending the night at a hotel near the airport.

Breeze hugged her boy and said, "Enjoy the tour of the campus and sitting in on some classes. Promise me you will talk to the other students." She looked concerned.

"Ah Mom," Arlo whined.

Arlo took after his parents. He too was a shy person. He was naturally quiet, but it was more than that, he was awkward around people and uncomfortable to engage with them. He was not a "people person" and had never had a lot of friends.

His behavior was partly due to his timid nature. His upbringing also contributed to his demeanor. When he was young, he only had limited opportunities to interact with other children. He hadn't attended regular school. He was home schooled.

His parents taught him what they thought was necessary, and let classic books supplement their efforts. He became a big reader and gravitated to ethics because it was a field of study that suited his nature. He could read and think and pursue it alone.

Arlo's opportunity to connect with other kids was hurt by his family's nomadic lifestyle. The family was forced to move to follow artistic projects. He was always the new kid in town and he often moved before anyone got to know him or he got to know them.

His parents prayed he would outgrow his shyness. They hoped that college would be that time.

Wendy was the next person to say her goodbyes. She was returning to school.

"Bye Mom," Wendy said. "My sorority is having an event."

Meadow knew that was code for ‘I have a party to go to’. She was fine with that. Wendy was a good girl and she kept her grades up. However, she felt they should give her nephew an opportunity to attend the party.

She said, "Wendy, why don't you take Arlo with you?"

Wendy was planning to hook up with her boyfriend. She didn't want to be stuck with her nerdy cousin. However, she knew she couldn't object outright. She decided to roll the dice and invite him. She was betting his shy nature would cause him to decline.

"Arlo," Wendy asked brightly. "Would you like to go? There's a party tonight. Lots of people will be there."

Arlo started to sweat. Crowds and parties scared him. He stammered as he responded, "Ah. Ah. No, thank you. Gramps and I were planning to discuss ethics."

Wendy smiled. She was happy her plan had worked and she when off to the party unencumbered.

Meadow cleaned up and headed off to bed. It had been a long day for her.

Harvey and Arlo had an enjoyable time discussing philosophy and ethics. Harvey played the role of Socratic professor. During their conversation, he asked,

"Arlo, what does it mean to be good."

Arlo spoke clearly. “First one must settle his convictions of what ‘good’ is.” He was comfortable talking to his grandfather and very comfort talking about ethics. He gave the textbook answer. "To be honest, courageous, respectful and concerned about others. To be a good citizen. Obey just laws, protect what is under your care, be informed and be involved with society."

"Why should we strive to live by these standards?" the old professor asked.

"Our world would be unpleasant and chaotic if we didn't. We'd be miserable if everyone lied and cheated and was mean to each another. If people acted on their baser instincts of greed and self-interest, we couldn't build a functioning society. It is noble to sacrifice for the greater good of others"

"Do you believe the goals of humans are joy, happiness, and contentment and the best way to achieve these goals is ethical behavior?"

Arlo nodded.

"I agree also," Harvey said. "Now, how do we get there?"

They discussed different versions of ethical theory. Arlo was a proponent of one theory. His Grandfather favored another.

Harvey summed up his argument this way. He said, "As you know, in consequential ethics, the outcome determines the morality of the act."

Arlo interjected, "For you, the end justifies the mean. Do you really believe there are no standards of behavior that should be upheld?"

"Yes and no," Harvey conceded. "The thing that makes an action right or wrong is the consequences of the action. Being truthful is a noble goal, but I believe it is okay to lie sometimes."

"But a lie is a lie," Arlo stated. For him, everything was black or white; idealistic.

"Yes, a lie is a lie," Harvey agreed. "But a lie can be a good thing. Consider this scenario, an overweight wife asks her husband if her butt is too big. Which is the better choice? If he's truthful and says "Yes, dear. You're fat." He hurt her feelings. If he lies and says, "No. You look fine." She is happy and believe me, it increases the husband's happiness too."

"That's an innocent lie," Arlo pointed out. "You need to be truthful about significant things."

"Like life or death issues?"

"Certainly."

Harvey said, "What would you do in this circumstance? A criminal breaks into your home. He demands to know if anyone else in the house?. You know your mother is upstairs. Do you tell him? Or do you attempt to protect her and say 'I'm the only one here.'"

"I lie to protect my mother," Arlo answered.

"Exactly," Harvey said. "It is acceptable, I would argue necessary at times, to break the moral code to be moral. The essence of morality is determined by the outcome of the act. One cannot blindly follow a set of precepts and expect to achieve good results."

Arlo said, "You make a good argument for your system, b