Moral dilemma

I don't face many moral dilemmas these days. At 50, my sense of right and wrong has matured to the point that I know what I should (notice the weasel word there) do in almost any given situation. It's hard to stump me on my own moral code.

The other day, Teri presented me with a moral dilemma, and I still don't have an answer. Here it is: If someone gives you a Wal-Mart gift card for Christmas, what will you do with it? I have received gift cards from Wal-Mart in the past, so the question isn't entirely hypothetical.

If you're not one of the regular discerning readers of the BYE blog, you need just a little background information to understand the nature of the dilemma. I am on a quixotic boycott of Wal-Mart and have vowed not to set foot in a Wal-Mart or buy any products from a Wal-Mart store until the company changes its evil bait-and-switch marketing practices. Yes, I know "everybody else" uses the same techniques as Wal-Mart to abuse their own customers, and I'm not asking anyone else to join me in my ridiculous boycott (although Teri has). It's just that Wal-Mart burned me twice in the last couple of months, infuriating me enough to stop giving them my business.

Okay, that's the background. Here are my options:

1. Destroy the card. If I do that, Wal-Mart wins. The company will profit immensely by receiving money and delivering no goods in return. That's the exact opposite of what I want my boycott to achieve.

2. Throw the card in a drawer and forget about it until Wal-Mart grows a conscience and/or I end my boycott. Wal-Mart wins again. Because of the finance concept of the time value of money, every day that I don't spend the card, the company profits on the interest from the unspent balance. Also with major inflation possibly on the horizon, the card will buy fewer goods with each passing day. Besides, what are the odds that Wal-Mart will grow a conscience?

3. Re-gift the card. That goes against the intent of the giver and would be an insult to them. They meant to give me a nice gift, not give me a gift to pass along to a stranger.

4. Send someone else in to Wal-Mart to buy items for me using the card. Technically, I wouldn't be breaking my oath not to shop there, but it completely violates the spirit of the boycott. I'm not anxious to turn into a Pharisee in this process.

5. Go ahead and use the card. Wal-Mart already has the money, so they won't gain further when I spend the balance. In fact they will lose because I'm taking goods without giving them money out of my pocket. On the other hand, this is a clear basic violation of the boycott.

6. End the boycott. It was stupid anyway.

What do you think I should do if I'm faced with this hypothetical situation in the next couple of weeks? Please tell me. I've posted the above options in a little poll on the upper right hand side of the screen. Feel free to exercise your voting franchise as a citizen of the BYE Nation. If you have a better option than those I've come up with or just want to point out my folly, feel free to leave a comment on this post.