When You Read Them Fairy Tales, Kids Pay Attention

Here’s what I think. I believe that the man in the suit performed a good deed. He didn’t try to pocket the money. He didn’t claim it was his. He noticed it and pointed it out; he was honest when it was to his advantage to be duplicitous.

For me to have claimed a benefit through someone else’s honesty felt wrong. If anyone should have been rewarded, it should have been that man who originally noticed the money.

As I was leaving, I had a lot of thoughts go through my head. "Idiot!" was one of them. I was kicking myself for a while, giving $20 to a man who, in his suit and trenchcoat was obviously very well off. I have friends who could have used that money. The crazy guy who’s always standing outside by the bridge, playing his guitar, could have used that money. This guy in his suit, working downtown, obviously did not need the money.

Other thoughts came up. Greek myths where Zeus and Apollo would roam the countryside, pretending to be beggars. A lot other stories came to mind: The Bible. George Washington and his Cherry Tree. The Brothers Grimm. Horatio Fucking Alger. This is the kind of stuff the American Dream was built upon. Even though my parents were immigrants, I was immersed deeply into a very western mindset. As a child raised in America… I learned the importance of honesty and how it is eventually rewarded. Being truthful is a favorable trait; if it’s not appreciated immediately, it will be somewhere down the road. This kind of thing gets ingrained.

As I was walking towards work, I started smiling. It truly did feel like the right decision. Of course, it would have been wonderful had the man miraculously turned out to be some millionaire… going around, testing people to see how honest they were.

But the conclusion I came to was this:

He saw the money. He was honest. He pointed it out. The money wasn’t mine. If I was honest, I’d tell him it wasn’t my money; if I was selfish, I’d lie and take the money. How could I lie, in light of his honesty? Shouldn’t he be rewarded?

What counts are actions, regardless of who performs them. The fact that he was (apparently) a well-to-do businessman is immaterial. What if it had been a small 7 year old kid, orphaned at birth, dressed completely in rags? Would that make a difference? Should it?

Replace the variables. If the answer is the same, the formula works.