Welcome to "Hard Decision of the Week!"

This is an endeavour I want to try to keep up every week. It's about hard decisions and determining what you really value.

Each week I'll post an imaginary scenario where you have to make a decision. (And yes, the decision is a pretty hard one.)

You can discuss the decision itself, or what it values. (And please don't flame each other, otherwise I'll get into trouble for starting the topic.)

Here's this week's decision, one that only got about 6 responses in Yahoo Answers, where I originally posted it:

Imagine that you're a 24-year-old man who has just graduated from college with a Master's Degree (6 years? I think it's 6.) and is deeply in love with one of his classmates. (If you're a woman, change all the words "man" to "woman".)
You come home from work one day, and see a parcel in the mailbox. You didn't expect anything from anyone, so you open it to see what it is. There is a check for 3 million dollars. The note attached to it, however, is less bright. There also seems to be some metal pieces inside the parcel.

The letter reads:

"Good day, Sir (or Madam if you're a woman).

As you can see, there is a check for three million dollars inside the envelope, which, no doubt, you have opened. The check is real; If you deposit it, you will see that your account currently has $3,004,685 in it."

You're bewildered at how much they know.

"We are an organized terrorist group. Sort of like the Mafia, but much larger and worldwide. We are planning three events that will happen on February 27 of this year. They are listed below:

1. We will bomb a city in Peru and kill approximately 40,000 people.
2. We will attack an elementary school in your city, killing all the children and teachers.
3. We will murder the one you love. She is your classmate, we believe.

Each attack will cost $3 million to stop, and the $3 million must come directly from you. We have tracked down all police departments. If you make any attempt to contact the police about this, the tracking device inside the parcel will kill you with the anthrax currently stored in it."

As you finish reading the sentence, the pieces of metal form a spider-like device and clamp hard onto your right wrist. You are frightened and try to shake it off, but it holds. You can feel needle-like pincers poking down into your bloodstream.

"The container is sterilized, so no harm will come to you immediately. If you try dialing any phone number from your cellphone, the device will also hear it and muffle out the signal. If you cash in the $3 million dollars, the check also has a special microchip attached to it, and the device will fall off and disintegrate once it detects that the check has been successfully cashed.

You can mail the check back to us, along with another check or two if you decide to take a $3,000,000 loan. The bank officers are part of our conspiracy as well. They will give it to you at no interest for five years. Once we receive the check, we will tell the device to fall off and disintegrate.

Should you destroy the check, the device will be notified that the microchip has been broken, and the device will inject the anthrax.

Good day to you,

()"

(The original question was pretty long, and I couldn't fit it all in. I'm sure it covers all scenarios.)

The question is: What should you do?

(I will be posting one like this, or will try to, every Wednesday.)

Ok... lemme see if I understood it correctly:

1. I am given a check for 3M. I can deposit it to have 3M in my bank account.
2. I am also "given" a metal bracelet spiked into my artery. There's the threat of anthrax in the bracelet.
3. I am given the chance to use that 3M to stop one of three terrorist-driven events.
4. I am also given the chance to take out a 3M loan at 0% interest for 5 years to stop another of those three terrorist-driven events.
5. I can destroy the check, but I will be injected with anthrax.
6. I can contact the police, but I will also be injected with anthrax.
7. I can dial any number with my cellphone but the signal will be jammed.

So far so good... not. I can see a few ways to get my own back.
1. There is nothing to prevent me from taking out the anthrax device, or having it taken out by a non-police professional. Heck, I can even recycle it to pull of a similar stunt
2. I can en-cash the check that very day; the device falls off. Then I go to the police. Then again, they may not be of any help if, as the terrorist group says, they have moles in the police force. Oh well, at least, I'll be 3M richer.
3. I can en-cash the check, become 3M wealthier, take out another 3M loan, invest in good security devices for my female classmate, invest the rest and, well, live a good life.
4. I can let it all happen. I don't care for any city far enough from me or any school I don't mind annihilating or any girl. I'm gay, for crying out loud
5. I know when it will all happen. I can't use my cellphone but I can use my homephone, my Yahoo! messenger, my GTalk, my email accounts, my Skype, my blog, my website or even send a nice little postcard to my unfortunate female classmate to warn her of the dangers. Also, I'll tell my sibs to take the day off on the 27th of February.

In any case, the end result, as I see it, is this.
1. That city in Peru is destroyed.
2. Some kids and teachers are dead.
3. I take out a loan from my female classmate. She dies; I don't have to pay her anything but my respects. I'm rich!
4. I am the proud owner of a detached, reverse-engineered Anthrax cellphone-jammer bracelet. I make more copies of it, use it to coerce key people. Maybe even take out a patent on it. I'm rich!
5. I have 3M from en-cashing the check. I'm rich!
6. I also have 3M at 0% interest for 5 years. I can invest it. I'm rich!
7. I hire a private investigator to trace back the generous senders of my wealth. I hire goons to do them off. I waltz up a police station, collect the bounty. I'm rich!

Wow. This is fun. Sounds like a win-win situation to me

Right. Um, the anthrax device is locked. If it gets damaged, it will also inject into you.

But anyway, great for thinking outside the box.

However, wouldn't you feel bad that you could have prevented them but didn't? It would probably haunt you for the rest of your life.

I know, but if I have it removed by a professional locksmith without destroying it, I'm (relatively) safe, right? Ah, what the heck, I'll just encash the check and be done with it



Not a bit. I don't know those people who died and it's getting a little crowded in this planet anyway, I'd gladly welcome the elbow room

Come to think of it, I think I'd even feel smug. Anyway, it's already been a week, time for the next hard decision, hm?

Well, I have $4,685 to work with right? I can spend that much trying to get the bracelet removed by a non-police source or at least looked at, and if they fail then still cash the check.

I don't like the idea of giving the terrorists money, and they might go through with their plans anyway. However, if the person trying to remove the bracelet fails, it might inject me as part of the mechanism. So then, if I decide to go that route I would have to set up the check somehow to be sent in maybe 3 to 5 days so if I get killed trying to get the bracelet off they hopefully will not kill everyone.

Of course, I have to question why they'd want the $3 million since their silly bracelet probably costs more

Anyway, it would be a tough decision because trying to remove the bracelet might end up with me dead, but I'd like to avoid cooperating with terrorists like that. A third option would be to go through with everything up to the mailing of the check and then immediately alert the authorities to all info including mailing address of the check, what the terrorists did, give over the device, etc.

Because the terrorists would likely kill me and possibly the others as well just to cover up their tracks, I'd at least try looking around to see what I might be able to do with the $4,685 that could get the bracelet off. I would deposit the $3,000,000 but not touch it because if anything goes wrong I want to have it on hand to make sure everyone doesn't get killed, and because anything done to that money might get noticed by the terrorists who might be keeping tabs on the bank account and go through with their plans otherwise. I'd also have the bank prepare to send the money to the terrorists in perhaps 3-5 days so if the anthrax kills me while I'm trying to have someone take the bracelet off at least there's a chance the terrorists won't kill anyone else.

Ideally I'd like to use the $4,685 to get the bracelet off, then alert the police and have the girl put in a witness protection program, have military force sent to the check receiving location, have the bracelet examined, the bank officers taken into custody, and the $3 million kept (although the government might try confiscating it as "evidence").

As an additional plan, I could actually alert the girl to what's going on, have her go to the police for protection, or have a friend go to the police to explain what was going on, and have that person or someone else act as a go-between between me and the police. I could tie a note to a rock and throw it from 3 or 4 blocks away at a police station explaining what's going on. I could mail or email police about what was happening, although terrorist monitoring might intercept it which is why the rock idea might be safer.

At any rate, I could in some such way alert the authorities without the terrorists knowing and without going to a police station, and have them make sure the safety of the girl, close down all elementary schools in the city on February 27th, locate all Peruvian cities with populations near 40,000 and have them protected, and send military force to the check receiving location.