I’ve been working as a cab driver for five years. During my work, my clients have forgotten a lot of different things in my car, among which there have been some quite valuable ones. But I have never returned anything to people who tried to contact me or my superiors in search of lost items. I have never returned anything even if it was of no value to me personally (documents, children’s things, books, umbrellas, etc.). I can’t even explain why I did that.
I always made excuses to myself that “it’s their own fault,” “why should I bother with their problems,” “I didn’t steal it, so I can use it,” etc. And so it was until one day my mother forgot her purse with her cell phone and a decent amount of money on the bus. The driver of that shuttle found my number in her phone book and called me to get in touch with my mom so she could get her things.
I always made excuses to myself that “it’s their own fault,” “why should I bother with their problems,” “I didn’t steal it, so I can use it,” etc. And so it was until one day my mother forgot her purse with her cell phone and a decent amount of money on the bus. The driver of that shuttle found my number in her phone book and called me to get in touch with my mom so she could get her things.
When I went to the man with my mother, it turned out that nothing was missing from my purse. Moreover, the man didn’t even want to hear about any reward for his honesty and indifference to other people’s troubles. And when he said that every decent person would have done the same, I was very ashamed. It was then that I suddenly realized how vilely I had acted and how hard it was for those people to whom I could have helped at least by returning things that were dear to them and useless to me, things or documents.
I’m not going to say that I’ve become a saint. But I have reflected on the fact that doing good is not so difficult. And these small “earnings” in the form of other people’s losses are not worth the price of a deal with my conscience.
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide commentsOne day I left my cell phone in a cab. It was new and expensive. The driver returned it, didn’t take any money, but didn’t refuse a bottle of cognac and a box of chocolates