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The blog title
read, “Moron turns in $140,000.00.” What this title has reference to is the
news story that broke last month. Eli Estrada, a 40 year-old Palm Beach
resident found a bag containing $140,000.00 in unmarked $20.00 bills.
Mr.
Estrada certainly could have used the money. About
six months ago, he opened a landscaping and artificial-grass business and is
in debt; he says his child support payments are tough to make; and he
supports his mother, who moved in with him last year after she lost her
house to a fumbled refinancing plan. Yet, Mr. Estrada went straight to the
police and turned in all $140,000.00.
Apparently a Brinks armored truck somehow lost the money. Brinks rewarded
Mr. Estrada for his good deed by giving him $2,000.00.
So now, was Mr. Estrada a really a “moron?” Only if one views such values as
honesty, integrity, and the “golden rule” as foolish. But what about the
cheap reward that was offered? Some on this blog said that if they knew the
reward for turning in the money would have been so small, they would have
kept it. But do we have to be financially rewarded for doing the right
thing? Are our values so degraded that we feel we deserve a “reward” for
doing what we’re supposed to do?
A moron? Hardly. Here’s a man who has demonstrated that he sufficient
intelligence to know that some things are more valuable than money…things
like integrity, honesty, and doing the right thing. Thank you, Mr. Estrada,
for your example. May your tribe increase!
Now then, truthfully, what would you do if you found them money? Give it
some thought. |