Bill McGarvey is co-author of Busted Halo’s Freshman Survival Guide. Bill was editor-in-chief of Busted Halo for six years. In addition to having written extensively on the topics of culture and faith for NPR, Commonweal, America, The Tablet (in London), Factual (Spain), Time Out New York, and Book magazine, McGarvey is a singer/songwriter whose music has been critically acclaimed by the New York Times, Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Billboard and Performing Songwriter. You can follow him at his website billmcgarvey.com or on Facebook.com/billmcgarvey

Survival Story

On the eve of the publication of their book, co-authors Nora Bradbury-Haehl and Bill McGarvey discuss how, over the course of six years, an evening…

Alabama Homeboys

For over 20 years, Homeboy Industries has offered a way out of gang life for thousands of young people in Los Angeles. Established by Fr.…

Moral Dilemma #3: The Drummer and the Drug Rep — The Wrinkle

Now we’d like to complicate the story just a bit more by telling you what happened next…

Kara tells Robert to stay where he is and makes him promise not to do anything to hurt himself. She gets in her car and immediately heads over to Robert’s apartment. While in the car she decides that she will ask one of the doctors she knows to see Robert and — if the physician believes Robert needs medication — she will provide the samples.

Robert is clearly glad to see her when she arrives. Kara offers to take him to the emergency room but Robert tells her that he feels better now that she is there. As far as Kara can tell, he does seem calmer and less desperate than he was on the phone but she is uncomfortable leaving him by himself right now. She sits down on his couch and begins to talk with him about what he’s been going through…

Moral Dilemma #3: The Drummer and the Drug Rep

After struggling to put herself through college, Kara landed a good job as a drug representative for a large pharmaceutical company. The job required her to travel to doctor’s offices throughout her “territory” in the northeastern part of Washington State and remind physicians about the various medications her company makes and how they benefit patients. Because most of the doctors she deals with are very busy, her visits usually entail a quick hello to the doctor to drop off a few samples of the prescription medications she represents.

Moral Dilemma #2: The Best Friend and the Bridesmaid — The Wrinkle

Now we’d like to complicate the story just a bit more by telling you what happened next…

 

The Wrinkle

After a few moments silence Michelle tells Beth that she can’t in good conscience stand up in a church before God and support a marriage that she so clearly feels is wrong and unhealthy.

On the other end of the phone she hears Beth start to cry and Michelle begins to feel sorry that she has hurt her close friend so badly. When Beth composes herself, she tells Michelle that she hasn’t had nearly as much dating experience and that she “exaggerated those incidents with Thomas” partly out of inexperience and also in part because she kind of enjoyed the drama and it made her feel like she finally had something to share with Michelle in terms of relationships. Now she’s concerned that Michelle will never give Thomas a fair chance.

Time for you to decide again. What’s the right thing to do now?

Moral Dilemma #2: The Best Friend and the Bridesmaid

As Beth and Thomas’ relationship became serious, Michelle began to be troubled by some of the things Beth would tell her.

Few of us are ever faced with making the sorts of life or death decisions we routinely hear about in the news. And yet there are decisions we face every day that — whether we realize it or not — have very real moral implications.

Part trivia game and part reality show, Busted Halo’s Moral Dilemmas feature is intended not only to raise some moral issues for our readers but also to ask you to participate in resolving them. After reading the story below about Beth, Michelle and Thomas please tell us through a one-question quiz, linked to at the bottom of the page, what you think is the “right thing to do.”

Moral Dilemma #1: The Banker and the Beggar — The Wrinkle

Now we’d like to complicate the story just a bit more by telling you what happened next…

 

THE WRINKLE

Jason takes a deep breath and tells the man that he’d be willing to buy him some hot food and call to make sure he gets taken to a shelter that night.

The homeless man says that the shelters are more dangerous than the streets and that he doesn’t want to lie to him: what he needs is some money so he can buy a cheap bottle of whiskey that will help keep him warm during the cold winter night.

Time for you to decide again. What’s the right thing for Jason to do now?