Real-Life Decision Making
Killer whales are magnificent creatures. They are huge and powerful, yet
gentle and eager to please their human trainers.
The trainers who work with these whales every day swear the whales have
individual personalities, senses of humor and mood swings. In other words,
they have good days and bad.
You are a whale trainer at an aquarium. You work with a whale named Giant.
Giant usually performs two shows a day for the crowds under your supervision.
He jumps over a bar, lifting his huge body out of the water and splashing
back down. He waves his dorsal fin. He slides out of the water and onto the
poolside where people can get a closer look at his black and white body.
As you prepare for the first show of the day, you can tell right away that
Giant is not his usual self. He is moving slower than usual and is not picking
up on your commands the way he usually does. Something is clearly wrong.
Giant recently had a checkup, so you are not too concerned
that it's something serious. More likely, he has the equivalent of a
cold. Or maybe some of the fish he ate didn't agree with him. Or maybe
the water temperature is a degree or two off due to the heavy rains of the
past days.
Whatever the reason, you must decide whether to bring Giant out for the
show.
What do you do?