TEACHERS WORLD TEARINGS : EXISTENCE SNIPPETS

' My friend is a high school teacher in a low-income area. She always shares tearful stories of her students' needs for food, school supplies, professional clothes for job interviews and so on.

Over the years, I've donated food, snacks and clothes for her to give to her students.

A few months ago, my friend said there was a job fair coming up at the school and the students needed clothes; she would take anything we could donate.

I went through my closet and gathered professional blazers, skirts, pants, and blouses and gave them to her.

Long story short : I decided to start an account on Poshmark to sell my family's old clothes.

When I looked up some of my friends' closets on the site, I discovered my teacher friend had posted and sold all the items I gave her for her students! Not just one or two items -all 20! 

'' DIVERTING DONATIONS FROM their intended beneficiaries, if that's what happened, is stealing - and stealing from the poor at that. Part of the ethics is holding people accountable for their serious wrongdoing.

True, she's a friend, but what kind of friend betrays your trust like this? Even if she had good reasons [ maybe your clothes were more to these students as cash?], she owed you truth.

You should tell her what you've found. If there's a compelling explanation - an explanation not only for her actions but misrepresenting them to you - you might be able to resume your relationship.

Seething in silence, though, just means you'll have your peace of mind stolen too. ''

The World Students Society thanks The New York Times. [ The Ethicist ].