In My Mind’s Zen Garden

I’ve been pondering about this story for quite some time now. I’m sure many of you have read about this, perhaps…

Philippine Driver Returns Lost Money

MANILA, Philippines—He needed the money for his sick wife and overdue rent, but honesty prevented a motorcycle taxi driver from keeping $17,000 left behind by a passenger.

Iluminado Boc returned the money to police in Tagbilaran city on central Bohol island last week, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Monday. The woman who lost the bag of cash had just reported it to police when Boc showed up at the precinct.

“It was not mine,” Boc was quoted as saying.

Boc, 45, said he was struggling financially because his wife was taken to a hospital the same day he found the money, and they had unpaid rent.

The owner rewarded him with $32—about seven times what a motorcycle taxi driver makes a day.

If you were in this man’s shoes, would you:

1. Try and return the money to it’s rightful owner.

2. Keep the money and use it to help your sick wife.

. . . .

I actually asked my wife the other day if it was okay with her, had I found $17,000 that would help if she were sick and needed hospital treatment, would it be right to keep the money?

She actually told me that it would be wrong to use money that didn’t belong to us, regardless of our circumstances, or the need to use the money.

So, that was her opinion.

. . . .

I also asked a friend and colleague what he thought about this situation, and he also said that the right thing to do would be to try and return the money back to its rightful owner.

. . . .

Now on the other side of the coin….

If you felt that finding the money entitled you to using it, being that you did find it and the owner wasn’t in sight, then that would be your own personal reasoning. You found this money, therefore it is yours to keep and spend as you will.

I can understand that everyone might have any number of reasons for keeping or returning the money, but in reality, there are only two choices. 1. keep the money. 2. return the money.

If you believe that the money should be returned to its rightful owner, then chances are, you’re feeling that this large sum of money had an intended purpose by its owner. After all, it’s very rare that someone would be carrying around that much cash, especially someone who had to ride in motorcycle taxi. I was thinking that this lady who lost the money must’ve desperately needed the money for a determined and important purpose. So, if you’re feeling that you should return the money, then it must be to make sure the money is returned for that intended purpose.

If you believe that it’s your right to keep the money, now that you’ve found it, then you’re probably thinking this money was meant for you. Maybe it’s a destiny thing in which the money fell into your hands for a reason. And being that your wife (or spouse) is ill, then its intended purpose could be met by using it to pay for your spouse’s medical bills.

Either way, one’s reasoning would govern whether that money would be returned or not. That is the bottom line.

Now one might contend that it’s a situation of: “Finders keepers, losers weepers”.

That reasoning would fall into the option to keep the money for one’s own needs.

Others might contend that the honest thing to do would be to return the money.

Which is right?

Well, I personally would return the money. For the simply fact that it never belonged to me in the first place.

1. Someone earned that money, not me.

2. The money was not given to me as a gift either.

3. If I didn’t earn the money, nor did I receive the money as a gift, then I really shouldn’t keep the money for my own individual needs, regardless.

. . . .

This situation has brought about this whole moral thing that I’d been dealing with. Sort of like a Buddhist koan… a cryptic riddle that Buddhist monks are supposed to solve and upon solving the puzzle, enlightenment might be attained.

So, now I see this situation as a sort of “moral puzzle” or zen koan, if you will…

In Buddhist thought, as well as in other religious belief systems…. if a person didn’t earn the money outright, or if the person didn’t receive money as a gift, wouldn’t that be the same as stealing?

To be honest, I’m not so sure now. My inclination would be to return the money to its rightful owner. It just would seem to be the right thing to do. If I do some major soul searching on this whole dilemma.

I think that in an ideal world, possessions and money would belong to the people, or to whomever had a need for it. But we live in a society in which people have their own belongings… their own toothbrush… their own clothes and underwear, etc….

People own stuff, and if others take it away from them without earning or buying it, then they basically are stealing it.

So, I just don’t think that our world is at a point in which everything is community property and we share everything. It would be nice, but the reality is, people have the right to own their own homes, manage their own money, and to have possessions. We’re simply not at a point where everything belongs to the people.

And that’s why we have the poor. Those who have been down on their luck. The homeless and less fortunate. It’s not right and it’s truly sad, but life has varying degrees from the poor to the opulently rich, and everyone in between…

Would you keep the money? Would you return?

What would be the right thing to do?