Gray Areas - Part Two

About a month ago, I wrote a Monday Message about finding money at an ATM machine. I knew the money belonged to a man in a gray Porsche who had tried to deposit it ahead of me, but I wasn’t able to find the guy. It was a very unique, brand new Porsche, so I have been looking for that car for weeks now.

I had decided to give up, but yesterday I spotted the Porsche! It passed by me in the parking lot of Pavilions, which is where the Chase Bank is located. I had two heavy boxes with me that I was taking to the UPS Store, but I immediately dropped those boxes on the sidewalk, and took off running after the Porsche. I probably looked like some crazy guy!

Fortunately the man in the Porsche parked pretty quickly. When I got to his window, he was still in his car looking at his phone. I knocked on the window and said something like, “Hey, I’m sorry to bother you. But if you bank over there at Chase Bank, I think I may have found some money that belongs to you.” Before I even finished talking, he was saying, “Sorry, sorry, sorry. No English.”

I realized he was Asian and didn’t speak English, so I got a little flustered. I tried several times to convey a message about finding his money, but he just kept saying, “Sorry. Sorry!”. There was a young girl in the back seat who spoke up and I think she was trying to translate for him, but he ignored her. After another minute or two, I started feeling foolish and gave up saying, “I’m sorry too, I just wanted to return some money to you.”

What I didn’t realize was that there was a man in a car next to the Porsche who was listening to the whole thing. He got out of his car as I started to walk away and said, “Hey, did I hear that right? Your trying to give that guy some money and he won’t take it? You’re a good man, you should just keep it and feel good about!  

I thought about what he said… but I didn’t feel good about it, I just felt confused. But on the way home, it occurred to me that even if it didn’t work out, at least I tried to do the right thing. You know that old saying, “It isn’t the gift, it’s the thought that counts.” Well, I’m pretty sure that covers “gray areas” as well!

Now go do the right thing!

~ Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Epilogue – After the first “Gray Areas” story came out, my friend Bill emailed me and mentioned that he banks at Chase and then asked me if I had seen the new gray Porsche he bought! I laughed at that… and today I will email him and tell him, “Good joke, but I gave the money to my church!”