K
Kathrin
Guest
For those who know me, I have made it back to the US again. 
i am here to visit friends, help out some people, to live mz faithā¦ and be an artist, ok, that too.
Anyway, as some of you know, I am a very scrupulous person.
I travelled without a visa, on the visa waiver program (I am a Swiss citizen). On the plane I realized that on the entry form one question was, ādo you suffer from a physical or mental disorder?ā I didnāt remember that question, it may have been that the question used to be for a āsevereā disorder, or maybe with visa applications it is different. Anyway, i thought, now does that mean ANY, even a mild, disorder? I asked one of the flight attendants on the plane, he said he knew about the forms. I said, I do have a mild anxiety disorder, have been in therapy, am still on medicationā¦ he said no, thatās not what they mean. Just severe thigns like if you have been in a mental institution.
And I thought, yeah,r eally, otherwise I also had to pick āyesā just because my kneee hurt sometimes, because arthrosis is a physical disorder. Most everybody had to say yes to that questionā¦
Now imagine a scrupulous person thinking about whether or not she had to decalre her scrupulosity?OCD as a mental disorder. (And it said, if you have to answer yes to any of the questions / other questions were more about illegal activities and former visa fraud - you might be denied entry. And I was already on the plane!
So: Moral dilemma. If I said no, telling myself the flight attendant told me I didnāt have to say yes, then maybe I was lying.
If I said yes, and I was just being overly scrupulous (but not mentally ill! ) and would cause a scene maybe by answering āyesāā¦ because they might think I am a danger to anybody or whateverā¦ then I would hurt some people too, not just myself. By not being able to visit my friends if they send me back. And causing grief for my family maybe even.
I thought, well, I totally want to be honest, so Iāll just try to find somebody there and ask them againā¦ not making it sound more severe than it is.
Then i thought, but the question used to be differentā¦ and I looked at the german form. The same thing in German. (Which I had started to fill out until I made amistake, and asked for a new form and got an English one)
On the German form, the translation was a bit different! It said, if I translate it back into English: āAre you physically or mentally disabled?ā
Now I wouldnāt call myself disabled.
So I asked for a German form again, and that I could sign with a clearer conscience.
But did I hadnle this morally right? Opinions?
I am planning to talk to a priest about this.
Kathrin
i am here to visit friends, help out some people, to live mz faithā¦ and be an artist, ok, that too.Anyway, as some of you know, I am a very scrupulous person.
I travelled without a visa, on the visa waiver program (I am a Swiss citizen). On the plane I realized that on the entry form one question was, ādo you suffer from a physical or mental disorder?ā I didnāt remember that question, it may have been that the question used to be for a āsevereā disorder, or maybe with visa applications it is different. Anyway, i thought, now does that mean ANY, even a mild, disorder? I asked one of the flight attendants on the plane, he said he knew about the forms. I said, I do have a mild anxiety disorder, have been in therapy, am still on medicationā¦ he said no, thatās not what they mean. Just severe thigns like if you have been in a mental institution.
And I thought, yeah,r eally, otherwise I also had to pick āyesā just because my kneee hurt sometimes, because arthrosis is a physical disorder. Most everybody had to say yes to that questionā¦
Now imagine a scrupulous person thinking about whether or not she had to decalre her scrupulosity?OCD as a mental disorder. (And it said, if you have to answer yes to any of the questions / other questions were more about illegal activities and former visa fraud - you might be denied entry. And I was already on the plane!
So: Moral dilemma. If I said no, telling myself the flight attendant told me I didnāt have to say yes, then maybe I was lying.
If I said yes, and I was just being overly scrupulous (but not mentally ill! ) and would cause a scene maybe by answering āyesāā¦ because they might think I am a danger to anybody or whateverā¦ then I would hurt some people too, not just myself. By not being able to visit my friends if they send me back. And causing grief for my family maybe even.
I thought, well, I totally want to be honest, so Iāll just try to find somebody there and ask them againā¦ not making it sound more severe than it is.
Then i thought, but the question used to be differentā¦ and I looked at the german form. The same thing in German. (Which I had started to fill out until I made amistake, and asked for a new form and got an English one)
On the German form, the translation was a bit different! It said, if I translate it back into English: āAre you physically or mentally disabled?ā
Now I wouldnāt call myself disabled.
So I asked for a German form again, and that I could sign with a clearer conscience.
But did I hadnle this morally right? Opinions?
I am planning to talk to a priest about this.
Kathrin