My Conscience Has A Heart

Source: Cafe Mocha Reflections via Tatiana Aviles on Pinterest

Several days ago, I was at Marshall’s looking around.  I was in the women’s section and I looked down to my right and saw money on the floor.  I picked it up and it was $80.  I immediately looked around to see if anyone was in the area and I was the only person.  It was weird, I went right ahead to the dressing rooms to ask the attendant how many women were in the dressing room.  She said it was quite a few and who I was looking for.  I told her that someone dropped something and I wanted to ask if anyone lost something.  I never told her what I found.  I waited to see who came out, but they took forever.  While I waited, I called my husband and asked him what I should do.  His first and only response was to turn it in, but then he said it was up to me.  

 I went to my personal Facebook page and posted the situation, looking for support, although I got the answer from the one person who’s judgment I trust the most.  I got four “keep it” responses, three from women and one from my brother.  I wasn’t the least bit surprised about my brother’s response.  Actually, I wasn’t surprised at anyone’s response.  I didn’t judge them at all.  Let me say this….when you are trying to make a decision that involves ethics, you need to dig deep within for that response.  No one can answer that question for you, not even your husband or significant other.  While I was trying to make it ok in my mind to keep the money, something deep within was telling me, you can’t keep that money, think about how you would feel if you lost $80?  That thought kept coming back every time I thought I was gonna try and walk out of that store.  Every single time.  

I went up to an associate and asked for a manager.  It took her FOREVER to come to the front of the store where I was waiting.  I asked her if anyone inquired about any lost money, she said no.  I told her what I found, not how much just that I found money.  She said I could leave it with her, and if no one claimed it after three weeks she would call me and it would be mine.  I told her to let me think about it, because now I didn’t feel comfortable with them keeping the money.  It wasn’t even my money, why was I making such a big deal out of it?  I told her to let me think about it, I walked around for 10 more minutes and it was bothering me that I had contemplated walking out of the store with someone’s hard earned money.  I left the money with the manager and she told me she would call me this Friday if no one claimed it.  I didn’t care at this point, it wasn’t for me to claim.  If the manager called me to claim the money, I’ve already decided I’m donating it to charity, I don’t want it.  I don’t need anything, I have a nice home, with all the amenities anyone could ask for.  We have food to eat, clothes on our back and a truly blessed life. 

After I got home, I logged into Facebook to check the responses and tell everyone that I just couldn’t keep the money, my conscience was kicking my behind.  As I stated earlier, almost everyone told me I did the right thing by turning in the money.  I was told that I would be blessed beyond $80, and I believe that as well.  I believe it was truly a test, God wanted to see how I handled the situation.  Too bad my daughters weren’t with me, this would have been such an awesome, life lesson for them.  It spoke to me and opened my heart and I an grateful for that.