Question, Is it immoral to collect a very, very small portion of something you have contributed to over a lifetime?
I was not suggesting that it was "immoral", Al.....morality and honorable are two different issues, at least to me.
As to the question of whether your pursuit of unemployment was "...an honorable act" or not, we each have our own definitions and parameters regarding those issues.....nobody can answer the question except you. In my case, it was a necessity, not an opportunity to enhance the savings account balance, which seems like somewhat of a superfluous justification (from Webster's online dictionary):
Main Entry:
su·per·flu·ous <INPUT class=au title="Listen to the pronunciation of superfluous" onclick="return au('superf14', 'superfluous');" type=button itxtvisited="1">
Pronunciation: \su̇-ˈpər-flü-əs\
Function:
adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin
superfluus, literally, running over, from
superfluere to overflow, from
super- +
fluere to flow — more at
fluid
Date: 15th century
1 a : exceeding what is sufficient or necessary
: extra b : not needed
: unnecessary
It seems to me that your justification was "greed", which is one of the serious "mortal" 7 deadly sins (and, as such,
might be questionable even from the standpoint of "morality", depending on your own personal definition of what constitutes morality)! From Wikipedia:
The
Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the
Capital Vices or
Cardinal Sins, is a classification of the most objectionable
vices that has been used since early
Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning (
immoral) fallen humanity's tendency to
sin.
The final version of the list consists of wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. The
Catholic Church divided sin into two principal categories: "
venial sins", which are relatively minor and could be forgiven through any
sacramentals or
sacraments of the church, and the more severe "capital" or
mortal sins. Mortal sins are believed to destroy the life of
grace and create the threat of eternal damnation unless either absolved through the sacrament of Penance or forgiven through
perfect contrition on the part of the penitent.
Now, following this train of thought further, if you believe that your acts were, indeed, serious enough to justify contrition, I would respectfully submit that if you were to give your SLC to Jim as an act of penance, that would certainly demonstrate to whatever higher power you recognize that you have, indeed, been appropriately penitent :thumbsup: !
Just MHO, though, and you know what they say about those!!
Doug