RECENT LETTERS TO THE ETHICIST.

During the blackout on Thursday night, I looted some Red Bull from the corner bodega. Should I go back and pay for it or leave well enough alone?

--Remy Toussaint, Greenwich Village

Some of the bars in the neighborhood were open all night. I went to one with my roommate and made out with some guy in a broom closet. It turns out he lives down the street. I know who he is, but he doesn't know who I am: it was pitch black. Should I introduce myself?

--Elena Villanueva, Park Slope

After 9/11, the woman who lives in the apartment upstairs constantly berated my husband and me for not being prepared. The afternoon of the blackout, she lectured my babysitter about batteries. Then, that night, she couldn't find her own flashlight and broke her toe on a doorstop. My husband and I were very happy to hear this. Does that make us horrible people?

--Susannah Leary, Murray Hill

For years, my girlfriend wouldn't let me replace our dinky little fifteen-inch TV. During the blackout, I cut the power cord with an X-Acto knife and then, after the lights came back on, told her that the tube must ...