Here's a good illustration on honesty from the Associated Press. When I read it I was confronted with my own response, and a bit surprised of my own reaction! How would you have reacted in a similar situation?
Most of us have the unrealistic fantasy of finding a briefcase or bag of cash along some well traveled road some unfortunate soul has lost. What if you actually did?? Can you imagine what a find that would be! The bigger issue is what would you do?
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When an 11-year-old Boy Scout found someones wallet with $800 inside, he understood what the person who lost it was going through.
Only a few weeks before, he had lost his own wallet and the $45 it contained.
J.R. Bouterse immediately told an adult about his discovery, which was turned over to a law-enforcement official and returned to its grateful owner.
''We're just so proud of him,'' said the boy's mother, Michelle Bouterse, 41. ''We can't say enough.''
To reward the boy, the Michigan State Police threw a pizza party Monday night, not only for the law-abiding child but for all 30 Scouts in Troop 90.
Another guest at the party, to J.R.'s surprise, was 20-year-old Jessica Cutler, the wallet's owner, who wanted to personally thank him for his act of honesty.
''I can't believe someone would find a wallet with that much money in it and not take some,'' she said. ''A lot of people maybe wouldn't have done that same thing. I'm just glad he found it and not someone else.''
J.R. found the wallet a little more than a week ago while leaving a Scout meeting at the church.
''I knew exactly how she felt,'' he said.
Not exactly: His own wallet has not been returned to him.
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1 comment:
This is a great story. Though I've heard stories like it before, it's still wonderful and inspiring to hear again that there are people in the world with integrity.
I'd like to think that I'd do the same thing--and I believe that I would--but the truth is, until we're actually in a situation that requires us to be honest and to exercise the integrity we believe we have, we won't really know.
I've been tested in this in a number of different ways over the course of my walk with God. Some of the tests I've failed miserably, but some I've passed with flying colors. My prayer is not that I'll never fail again, but that I'll learn from my mistakes, and that as I grow in Christ the successes will begin to outnumber the failures.
Stories like this one help inspire me to keep trying. Thanks for sharing it.
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