Integrity

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Perhaps I have become a cynical old man, but I have a strong suspicion that most people think that they can do anything they want as long as they don't get caught. For example, I know if I find a wallet and it has identification in it, I will make an effort to find the owner. It is the right thing to do, and keeping whatever money and not returning any identification cards, and especially ATM and credit cards, is unconscionable. Now I lost a few wallets in my lifetime as an adult, all in areas that have lots of people about. All my wallets have my name and address, and so far not once has a wallet been returned. It is strange to me that it is considered a news story about someone finding a large sum of money (even a homeless person a few years back returned a significant sum) - why should this be a news story? It is the right thing to do. Except maybe to report that there are a few decent people around these days. I found a gift card in a parking lot. It isn't cash, there is a way to trace the owner, so I went to the Mervyns store nearby and returned it. There is nothing special about that, or heroic. It just shows I'm not one to take advantage of another's misfortunes. I would be most interested in hearing from those with the "finders-keepers" mentality (finding something, no matter what the cercumstance, means that you get to keep it) and how they justify this behavior.