What Would You Do?
Real scenarios. No easy answers. Think it through — because one day, you will face a moment just like this.
The best time to think through a hard situation is before you are in it. These scenarios are designed to help you develop your moral instincts, practice ethical reasoning, and understand why the choices you make in difficult moments define your character.
Scenario 1
You find $100 in a parking lot. No one is around. There is no way to know who dropped it.
What do you do?
Think About This
- •Does the amount change your answer? What if it were $10? What if it were $1,000?
- •Is there a business nearby where it could have been dropped?
- •What would you want someone to do if you dropped it?
- •What does your choice say about your character when no one is watching?
This scenario tests your honesty when there are no consequences for keeping it. The person of character asks: what is the right thing to do — not what can I get away with.
Scenario 2
Your close friends want to shoplift from a store. They say it is no big deal and everyone does it. They pressure you to join in.
What do you do?
Think About This
- •What are the immediate consequences if you are caught?
- •What are the long-term consequences — criminal record, reputation, self-image?
- •What does it mean if you go along just to avoid conflict?
- •What does it say about a friendship that requires you to compromise your values?
Peer pressure is most powerful when we fear losing belonging. But the friends worth keeping are the ones who respect your values — not the ones who require you to abandon them.
Scenario 3
You fail an important test or exam that significantly affects your grade. You are frustrated and embarrassed.
What is your next move?
Think About This
- •Do you blame the teacher, the test, or yourself?
- •What specifically went wrong — preparation, understanding, test anxiety?
- •Who could help you — a teacher, tutor, classmate?
- •What would you do differently if you could go back?
Failure is information. The question is not whether you failed — it is what you do next. People who succeed long-term are not people who never fail. They are people who respond to failure with accountability and action.
Scenario 4
You witness someone being bullied — verbally or physically — in a public place. You do not know either person.
What should happen?
Think About This
- •What is the risk to you if you intervene directly?
- •Are there safer ways to help — getting an adult, calling for help, standing with the victim?
- •What does doing nothing say about you?
- •What would you want someone to do if it were you being bullied?
Bystander inaction is one of the most common moral failures. You do not have to be a hero to help — you just have to be willing to do something. Even small actions can change outcomes.
Scenario 5
A friend confides in you that they are struggling with depression or thoughts of self-harm. They ask you to keep it secret.
What do you do?
Think About This
- •Is keeping this secret the same as protecting your friend?
- •What is the difference between a secret that protects and a secret that harms?
- •Who is the right adult to tell — a parent, school counselor, trusted teacher?
- •How do you tell your friend why you cannot keep this particular secret?
Some secrets are too heavy to carry alone — and too dangerous to keep. A true friend chooses their friend's life over their friend's momentary anger. Getting help is not betrayal. It is love.
Scenario 6
You are offered a job opportunity that pays well but requires you to do something that feels ethically questionable — not illegal, but not quite right.
Do you take it?
Think About This
- •Can you do this job and still respect yourself?
- •What is the long-term cost to your integrity and reputation?
- •Are you rationalizing because of the money?
- •What would you advise a close friend in the same situation?
Money is a powerful rationalizer. The question to ask is not 'can I justify this?' but 'will I be proud of this in ten years?' Your career is built on your reputation — and your reputation is built on your choices.
There are no perfect answers to these scenarios. But thinking through them now — before you face them — gives you a framework for acting with integrity when the moment arrives. Character is not built in the crisis. It is revealed there.