Chasing the Points just wrote how to convince a cashier to allow credit, and I just received my Global Entry card for the little one in the mail. But just because you can talk your way into a beneficial situation, or out of a bad one, should you do so, and should you encourage others to?
In my own reflections, I can see real issues that could be exploited, here’s two examples. The Global Entry interview I forget to bring ID for my 1yr old. He has no other ID, and can’t even respond with much certainty to his name. But I can get that interview approved, and receive a government issued ID based on some fast talking and a cheeky smile. In other words, the child in that photo can fly for the next 7 years in the US, and who knows what else we could parlay that ID into if so inclined? And what is to say that the child in the photo is who he is supposed to be?
After I opened the letter from the TSA I also reflected on the time that I entered South Africa without Yellow Fever inoculations. I was told at JNB airport that I needed them, and that if I wanted to enter I must visit the airport clinic for shots, I decided I didn’t want to do that, and talked my way through. The truth is there though, I might have had Yellow Fever without realizing it, and caused an outbreak.
As we wander through this life, I think we cross lines that perhaps we shouldn’t. I do believe in self regulation, and from the two examples I used here, the Global Entry is within my comfort zone. I exposed a weakness, but since it really was my son in the interview, no harm will come from the action. The South African one though, I think perhaps I was self centered, and the impact is real.
The question that I am wrestling with today is that if you know you can do pretty much whatever you like, how do you self govern?
Pretty much a pussy for not getting the Yellow Fever shot.
🙂
I find a I learn a lot from other people experiences. Some push the limits and others don’t. Perhaps the self regulation should be ‘first do no harm’ as in a doctors oath- i.e.: wikipedia “to uphold specific ethical standards”.
Bottom line, I have to live with myself!
So long as your moral compass still points north and you’re able to look yourself in he mirror, I say you’re doing alright. The major caveat being when reflecting on your life if you’re proud of the difficult decisions you’ve made.