The Right Thing to Do

We’ve all heard stories of people who found items of value and returned them to their rightful owners. It’s the right thing to do, the decent thing to do.

Or someone receives too much change at the supermarket and re-enters the store to return the excess, so the check-out person’s register will balance at the end of the day. Besides, it’s the right thing to do.

Or someone refuses to cheat on an exam, even though the neighboring student exposes the test paper in such a way that reveals the answers – if one is inclined to copy. Well, after all, being honest is the right thing to do.

But what if you found a wallet containing half of a one dollar bill? That’s right, just half. Plus some pictures and a money order for $60.00. And what if the wallet, photos, money, and money order were sixty-one years old? And the people mentioned in the wallet lived thousands of miles away?

What difference would it make if you returned it? Who cares?

Actually, it mattered a lot to Jack Grose, who apparently lost the wallet in 1948, when he was stationed with the U.S. Army in Europe. A team of German workers, renovating a barracks on a U.S. Army facility in Ansbach, Germany, last year, came across the wallet in the barracks attic.

Using the mother’s name found on the money order, the Germans contacted the coordinator for a genealogical organization in the Midwest. He did a little research and found that Jack Grose and his wife Sue lived in Marion, Indiana.

Needless to say, the family was delighted to retrieve the objects. Grose cannot recall if the wallet was lost or stolen. He has suffered a stroke and is unable to speak, but still communicates with his family.

The ancient wise man observed that “kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value a man who speaks the truth” (Proverbs 16:13 NIV). He notes further that “an honest answer is like a kiss on the lips” (Proverbs 24:26 NIV).

Business executive Peter Scotese said, “Integrity is not a 90 percent thing, not a 95 percent thing; either you have it or you don't.”

There’s always the temptation to cut corners, shade the truth, or be a little less than forthcoming. But a person of integrity ultimately does the right thing.