A 22-year-old student at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, was visiting a local thrift store. She was examining a cash box when she unexpectedly found $2,000 inside the cash box.
Yekaterina Shneyderova was that student. She said, “I saw the money and the envelope with an address and I thought it might be someone’s life savings. I couldn’t keep it.”
Shneyderova gave the money to the store manager, Lance Letson, and he returned it to Ronald and Imogene Crowder, the owners. The Crowders did give Shneyderova a $200 reward and the cash box.
That student could easily have kept the money – she did what was right.
Last year Gil Meche was under contract to earn $12.4 million for the Kansas City Royals. He had a shoulder injury that made him ineffective. He felt like he didn’t deserve that kind of salary. While his contract called for the fact that he would have to be paid, he decided to retire and forfeit the money.
Think of that – forfeiting $12.4 million! Meche said, “It was just the right thing to do.”
Some people would say that the Royals signed the wrong man because he got hurt. Joanna Molloy of the New York Daily News said that he was the right man because of his actions. She wrote, “From actors to investment bankers to socialite hotel heiresses, we‘ve become accustomed to famous people getting big bucks for very little”. She went on to say that Meche was showing kids what integrity really looks like.
Integrity has rapidly become something people seldom see. While it may be unpopular and seldom practiced, doing the right thing is the right thing to do.
Bill Gates recently gave up his Forbes ranking as the wealthiest man in the world when he gave away $28 billion through his charitable foundation. While he was losing the #1ranking in getting, he was moving towards a #1 ranking in giving. That’s the right thing to do!
WWJD – What Would Jesus Do – is a good way to determine the right thing. Peter wrote, “This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.” (I Peter 2:21 The Message)
It is never the wrong time to do the right thing!
