Moral Indulgences

Every entry in this collection imposes some sort of modifier on our typical expectations of moral responsibility. Right and wrong are so often assumed to be clear and non-controversial, but edge cases and extreme circumstances can strain our assessment of "the right thing to do." Moreover, there are times when people are forced to act in ways that would be wrong for them if they had chosen it of their own free will; but their freedom is somehow removed, rendering them innocent for what occurs.

Perhaps it's merely the accident of random chance, in which it's "nobody's fault."

Perhaps it's coercion, in which someone might be guilty of wrongdoing--but it's not our protagonist(s).

Perhaps it's a moment of extreme crisis, where unusual or heroic measures are required.

In each of these stories, there will be some sort of external factor that impinges upon our ordinary expectations of moral responsibility in a way that makes a previously-unthinkable course of action feel like the right thing to do. And under such circumstances, who knows what might happen?