Monday, February 27, 2012

DO THE RIGHT THING

DO THE RIGHT THING.  That's actually a movie title, but I'm not going to talk about the movie.  Your dad wanted me to write about what I want you to know about me, so today I am going to relate a couple of experiences from my life.
  Once, many years ago, I was walking down an aisle at a grocery store and saw a one hundred dollar bill laying on the floor.  My first thought was that it must be a fake, possibly a religious pamphlet made to look like money and dropped deliberately.  Nevertheless, I did pick it up and it turned out to be genuine.  I thought about finding a store manager and making an attempt to return the money to its rightful owner, but quickly talked myself out of it with excuses like "It would never get back to the right person," etc.
  I kept the money, and some little while later it was gone, spent on I know not what.  The only difference that money has made in my life is that occasionally I still think a bit less of myself for not trying to return it.
  Some time later, I came across a roll of quarters on the floor at the local library.  Again I picked it up and took it home.  This time I called the library and told them that I had found a sum of money and that if anyone called them to report it missing I would return it.  In fact, they had received such a call and gave me the number of the caller.  The caller turned out to be an elderly lady who said that she had gotten the roll of quarters because that was what she needed for the bus which was her only means of transportation.  I took the money to her house and shared an hour of pleasant conversation with her talking about old times in Aurora and whatever else came up.  I left her house with the gift of feeling good about myself and that is a gift that I still enjoy to  this day.  I received something of great value for the ten dollars;  I bought some stuff with the hundred.  Do the right thing, you won't regret it.

 Grandma’sBriefs.com

4 comments:

  1. This is wonderful and just the kind of thing your grandchildren are going to want to know about you. Did your son know about this story? Lately I've been sharing old stories with Amara and amazes me how often her Mom pipes up -- I never knew that!

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  2. Oh, I nearly teared up at this. I'm sure that woman was beyond grateful to you for doing the right thing. (I'm in agreement on the $100, though; I likely wouldn't have searched to hard for the rightful owner, using the same rationale you did.)

    Thank you for sharing. Doing the right thing often makes US feel just as good as the one for whom the right thing was done.

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  3. (I typed too fast; that should be "too hard" in that parenthetical comment. -- The editor in me just won't let that slide. :-D )

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  4. Whoa! I wish my Grand dad were more like you!

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