Hi guys. This is my first post and English is my second language. I'll try my best to be able to send the message across, so please bear with me.

While I was doing a course at one of the polytechs here in NZ, we had one paper where we had to write an essay about Jeffrey Wigand (please see Wikipedia). Basically, he blew the whistle and disclosed malpractices of his tobacco company. His company added illegal substance just to increase the effect of nicotine to cigarettes.

Based on the paper that was given to us, he was praised by the society for disclosing the malpractices of his company.

On my essay, I raised this hypothetical situation: where I am a non-smoker with 2 kids who are chain smokers. I also own a chemical company. Now, once I heard the news, I joined the public in chorus who praised Jeffrey because he did a favour to the community. Few months later, Jeffrey was knocking on my door and was applying for a job. Now my dilemna is, am I going to accept him as he did a noble service to the community few months back. Or probably not, because of his previous history of disclosing issues which might affect my company. But then again, don't forget that I was one of his avid supporters and my 2 sons were potentially saved from illegal substance.

No matter how one answers this question of mine, to me it begs the question of who we really are? Do we simply sing in chorus if it favours us (ie, it feeds our fetishes by passing our moral barometer) and curses when potential situation can harm us? If so, our values and virtues then is not absolute but rather depends on how it will affect us. 

Who we really are?