Is Honesty Unjust?

"Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy."

-Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter after the return of He Who Must Not Be Named.

Thursday night 2 1/2 hours into my four hour nap time (otherwise known as Strategic Management or Management - Senior Assessment or Mgmt 490) four police officers stuck their heads in the door and two of them strolled almost to the end of the table farthest from me where there was an empty chair that, before break, was home to a young woman who sits with her friend every class. There was much commotion as the Prof. tried to continue to have class until the male officer took him into the hallway.

This left the female officer speaking with the absent girl's friend and those around the empty chair. Finally, trying to figure out what they were saying, I saw what all the commotion was about: the female officer picked up a knife with the blade already unfolded that had been sitting on the table hidden from my view by our course book.

We were stunned. We knew that the blade was over 2 1/2 inches and knew that the girl that it belonged to was out of school for good - her last class? And she gets kicked out of school for violating the weapon policy! Bummer!

Then, as the friend described how the girl found the knife in a chair she chose to swap with her own during the break, and as the officer was leaving the room carrying the weapon with blue rubber gloves in front of her like a dead squirrel, the business savvy motorcyle rider in class piped up:

"I think that that may be mine..."

Doh! All he had to do was keep his mouth shut and buy a new knife! But he was honest and probably saved some girl from misery and toil through the night. Unfortunately, all that stuff up there about the last class before graduation now pertains to him. I know that he violated the weapon policy. I also know that I'll forever remember his moment of honesty. It is too bad that the cops didn't see it that way:

08-16-2007 2000-0800
Case #07-0756 / Possession of Weapon on Campus (626.10 PC)
Description: At approximately 8:55 pm, officers responded to Jack Brown Hall regarding a found knife in a classroom. Upon further investigation the knife was found to belong to a male student, who was subsequently arrested for possessing a knife with a blade more than 2 1/2 inches.
Disposition: Arrest