On a recent evening, P and I went to our beloved Trader Joe's for our usual Weekly Grocery shop. After parking the car and getting our cloth shopping bags out of the trunk (how very suburban eco-friendly of us, right?), we spied a crumpled $20 bill lying halfway between our car and the White Suv parked next to us. The space between our car and the SUV was relatively large, about three feet. P bent over and picked up the bill. He then pulled out his wallet, about to claim his newfound treasure.
Me: "We can't take that money! It probably belongs to that guy." [I point to the SUV.]
P: "No way. It's too far away from his car. See? It's much closer to our car." [Gesturing ensues.] "Plus it's on the passenger side, not the driver's side. Someone probably dropped it as they were walking into the store. There's no way to find that person and give it back."
[Silence, as I examine the evidence, assessing the validity of his claim.]
Me: "Hmmm... you're right. Someone probably did drop it on their way into the store and we can't very well ask at the customer service desk for the person who lost $20..."
[Silence again, as we exchange glances realizing that there is no moral ambiguity here - we are free to keep our $20 prize.]
Me: "But, wouldn't it be nice if it didn't belong to this guy," [pointing to white SUV] "but he 'found it'" [yes, I actually used air quotes here], "anyway?"
P: "You mean we just leave it here for him to claim instead of us taking it?"
Me: [Nodding emphatically.] "Yeah. Like a random act of kindness kind of thing."
P: "I guess that would be kind of cool. If you really want to..."
[I nod again. P takes the $20 bill, puts it under the windshield wiper of the white SUV, and we continue on to our weekly grocery shop.]
It felt good. I wanted to go inside the grocery store and wait until the white SUV owner came back, just to see the look on his/her face, but I didn't. God, if you're watching, can you please count this incident in the "pros" column? I'm gonna need all the help I can get.
