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Convenience

Hi I have an ethical question for you all and would like to get some comments on it.

This situation has been resolved and I forgave my roommate of his actions but I would like the communities opinion on this subject.

About two months ago my neighbors gave me and my roommate four containers of frozen orange juice. We (roommate and I) separated our portions and declared to each other which separate portions were respectively mine and his. His being on the bottom drawer in the freezer and mine on top. After some time he had used all of his and there was still one full unopened and one half used container left in my stash. Last night I got a craving to drink some Orange juice and went to the freezer only to find that the full container was gone. I approached my roommate with this and he replied to me "My throat is sore and I was just coming to tell you that I took your Orange juice"

I don't own a car and my roommate does. The nearest convenience store is one and half miles away. the time of night was 11:00pm and we live in Tacoma, WA. where most regular grocery stores are closed after 10pm.

Does the cause justify the reason and motive?
He had a sore throat and I had readily available Orange juice.

Is there, amongst friends, an implied expiration limit of ownership, meaning that after that time limit expires then that object becomes public property available to any friend who wants it?

Is it OK to do this amongst friends because they are your friend and it is reasonable to assume that they will either not care or simply forgive you?

If it is more convenient for you to take something when you need it and then replace it later, does that justify the action?

Is it better to tell someone you took their belongings with a reasonable justifiable motive or just do it with out declaration and then, when caught, supply the justification as a reasonable cause for the motive?

thanks for your answers...

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Comment by Bubba Tarandfeathered on October 8, 2009 at 5:29pm: divine entitlement is they are being taught. Google it some of the info is a real mind f$&k. All god's domain belong to us.

Comment by Bubba Tarandfeathered on October 8, 2009 at 4:48pm: What really gets me is he saw no issue with taking it, his need out weighed any sense of boundries, he refused to admit any wrong doing because as far as I can tell he just plain didn't care. What are they teaching these so called moraly high ground Christians these days.

Comment by Bubba Tarandfeathered on October 8, 2009 at 4:03am: As far as I can tell it was an excuse, He drank the entire frozen OJ container in one sitting. If it had been simply a glass I might have just let it slide but the entire container. One container makes 6 8oz glasses of OJ. He smoked 3 cigs during the argument and stood out in 45deg weather to do so.

He did replace it. After I pretty much camped at his bedroom door telling him to do so.

Comment by Johnny on October 8, 2009 at 2:20am: well sure. open communities can be nice if willingly accepted by both sides. What's mine is yours is a good way to bond with people. I take it that you are uncomfortable with this however and that makes it selfish justification by him and not simply "understood" that it is ok. On the other hand, since there is the extra circumstance of sickness, let's go further.

His reasoning is sound: his need was greater than yours and it was more important that he gets the juice. However if openly sharing everything as a principle of your "mini-society" is not ok, then he owes you compensation by an equal-value item, money, or a new OJ at a later time when the immediate threat of sore throat is over.

Comment by Talen Lee on October 7, 2009 at 5:58pm: I have something of a similar problem in that my memory is pretty rubbish. When I see something in the fridge I'd like to eat, if it's been long enough, I'll have a mouthful, enjoy it, then there'll be a synapse firing behind my eyes that asks: Why haven't I eaten this before now? Before it barks back Because your wife told you not to, you douche!

Forgiveness isn't better than permission per se, but unfortunately, it's often the only option for those with poor memories.

Comment by Sonny Mobley on October 7, 2009 at 1:45pm: I have one friend who can take something of mine, whatever it is, and assume 'll be cool with it or forgive right off of the bat. And he is not my roommate - well, not full time roommate anyway.