this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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No such thing as stupid questions

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The original was posted on /r/nostupidquestions by /u/cautiousherb on 2023-09-19 20:31:25.


My friend and I had a big debate about this. We were walking a few months back and I saw a really great double daffodil in a bed of daffodils. We live on a college campus that gets a lot of daffodils in the gardens every spring. Not farm level, but they’re definitely around.

I saw it and immediately wanted to put it on my windowsill. I asked my friend, "Would you think less of me if I took this?" and their answer was yes, though they wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t ask. They said that it wasn’t okay, that the flowers belonged to the public, and were for them to enjoy, and weren’t for personal use. Not only that, but if everyone took a daffodil using the same logic then there would be none left for anyone to enjoy. I argued that this one daffodil would make me very happy over weeks and would liven my day along with anyone who saw it on my windowsill. This one would bring me much more joy than it would if it stayed in the bed and people walked right by. Plus, I was having a rough time (who isn’t, though?) and it would cheer me up.

We weren’t able to come to an agreement on this and was wondering what Reddit thinks. My friend was so passionate about this that I didn’t grab the daffodil.

Obviously grabbing the daffodil isn’t crazy morally wrong. There are clearly worse things. I guess the real question is whether it’s wrong at all, even the slightest bit. Would you think less of someone if they took a flower from a public space?

Usually I would agree with my friend but in this case the weighted happiness absolute value for me taking it was in theory higher than having it stay public.

Edit: The daffodil would actually live longer on my windowsill than it would have in the park. Also, my windowsill is very public. I live in a very frequently-seen area next to a very active public space.

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