The following is a Counterpoint:
Reward for honesty comes up short
By Tonya Ward
I am writing in response to the news in your paper and on TV about Mary Beth Harris, her daughter and her mother finding a money bag outside of a bank that contained a weekend's worth of income from a local Rockingham County restaurant. I was appalled when I watched the broadcast.
It is obvious that Harris has medical problems. She stated that she had been diagnosed with liver cancer. The broadcast showed her medicine bottles, 12 to 15 of them, which she had just had filled. She even stated that she could have used the money they found to buy things that she needed. Not wanted, but needed. Instead, she said she wanted to go to heaven and not the other way and she was not raised to steal.
She and her family did the right thing and called the police and got the money returned safely. How were they rewarded? The manager rewarded them with three free meals. What an insult! He should be ashamed of himself. Instead of losing a weekend's worth of money, he had every dollar safely returned.
The money could have easily ended up in the wrong hands and never would have been seen again. Does he not realize how lucky he is? God will not forget their honesty nor will He forget the greed of a shallow-minded manager.
A dear friend whom I discussed this with said that God will look after Harris and that she will be rewarded later and that He puts people on Earth to protect sick people from the evils on Earth.
We as a community need to find out what restaurant this was and show our appreciation and boycott it! Let them know that we don't appreciate how these ladies were "rewarded."
Tonya Ward lives in Denton.
Comments (6)
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Tonya,
It was 'The Little Rebel' gas station on 220 N...(they shorted me fiver a while back on a fill up)
Posted on October 25, 2007 6:48 AM
Ms. Ward,
Have you ever been told that integrity is what is done when no one is looking?
The lady returned the money because it was the right thing to do. That is its own reward.
I'm don't know if you've ever opened and run your own business, but the restaurant might not be doing as well as you assume. Lots of small business fail, and those three meals might have been about the best they could offer.
But yeah, let's boycott them and put them under because they didn't give the reward you think they should've.
And good luck to you if you ever open a business. I hope you're given half the consideration you're willing to give others.
Roger
Posted on October 25, 2007 7:05 AM
Ms. Ward, I appreciate the perspective of the "Counterpoint."
However, rather than boycott the business, why not patronize it. Then when paying let it be known with great emphasis how displeased one is with the way that situation was handled. And note that one desired to see what type of integrity the establishment had. That may do more to work on the conscience of the owner/manager than any boycott.
Shalom
Posted on October 25, 2007 8:13 AM
Ms Ward said: "She and her family did the right thing and called the police and got the money returned safely. How were they rewarded? "
They were rewarded by doing the right thing. Not for " what'll I get ".
Posted on October 25, 2007 8:46 AM
I agree Darryl and Roger.
Then again, I think it was nice that the restaurant rewarded her at all. A lot of folks wouldn't, unfortunately.
I think this counterpoint is way off base. If the woman would have wanted the money she could have kept it. Although, I imagine that the bank had cameras that would have caught her in the act. It sounded like she found the money in or near the deposit slot. Makes me wonder why she didn't just stick it in the deposit slot.
Mary Beth Harris should be applauded for doing the right thing. The reward she'll receive will far exceed anything a restaurant could give her.
However, I'm sure that if Tonya Ward feels strongly about it, Mary Beth wouldn't turn down an anonymous cash gift.
Posted on October 25, 2007 8:49 AM
Apparently Tonya only does things for the reward.
Maybe....could it be.....the finders didn't tell their life story to the police, thus the owners never knew? Maybe it was when the news came asking that their problems were told.
God forbid you do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing!
Posted on October 25, 2007 11:38 PM