This week was great for many reasons, but perhaps the reason that touched me most was examples of people’s basic honesty. If you were to allow your view of the human race to be based on mainstream media I think you’d overall have a poor picture of the human race. This is because happy stories do not sell. Our television news broadcasts and our newspaper reports tend to focus on what is wrong in the world.
But this weekend the media in Irelan carried a story about an honest shop assistent who ensured that a forgetful Lotto winner received his just reward. The story of Tom Heavy and Dermot Finglas is covered in many articles including here on the Irish Independent website. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/honest-shopkeeper-seeks-owner-of-8364350000-ticket-1772633.html The honesty of the shop keeeper should be saluted. I loved the quote from the article “It wasn’t mine. I could have taken it… but it was someone else’s ticket and someone else’s luck”
On Thursday last another there was another example of people’s honesty. This one was closer to home. While our car was parked another motorist tipped it and scraped its side. These small incedents (nobody was hurt) can turn a good day sour. Especially if you discover the damage when the driver is long gone. But that is what happened, however the driver left their contact details in a note on the windscreen. Everyone who heard the story thought that this was really unusual in modern times. I hope it isn’t and it is just another example of people’s basic honesty.
My final example, was an unfortunate traffic in which a friend of mine knocked a cyclisdt off their bike. Perhaps not the best story to tell in National Bike Week. http://www.bikeweek.ie/ But once again it is an example of people not looking for the fast buck and doing the right thing. The details of the accident aren’t as imoprtant as the outcome. The cyclist recognised that s/he had made a dodgy manoeuver and was at fault, and showed nothing but concern for the driver and the car. Apart from cuts, grazes and immediate shock nobody was really hurt. Each party was only concerned with the well-being of the other.
These are just three examples of our basic honesty that touched me this week and I feel that they all deserve recognition. Not because the examples are unusual, but because it is important to reciognise good things when they happen.
Last week was great for many reasons. I started this blog, I exercised a bit more than I’d been doing recently, and I spent as much time as possible outdoors. But I think what impressed me most this week was the basic honesty of people.
Last weekend the media in Ireland carried a story about a shopkeeper who ensured that a forgetful lotto winner received his just reward. The story of Tom Heavey, the shopkeeper, and the man who left the shop without his lotto ticket, is covered in many articles including here on the Irish Independent website. The actions of the shopkeeper should be saluted. I loved Tom’s quote “It wasn’t mine. I could have taken it… but it was someone else’s ticket and someone else’s luck”. And that sums it up really.
On Thursday last my wife experienced another example of people’s honesty. This one was closer to home. While her car was parked, another motorist tipped it and scraped its side. These scrapes can turn any day sour, especially if you discover the damage when the guilty party is long gone. But in this case the driver left his contact details on a note on the windscreen. We thought this was fantastic. Our dismay due to the damage to our car was wiped clean away by the honesty of the driver. The feeling of many people who heard the story was that this was not normal behaviour. People don’t usually own-up like that. I have no statistics I can use to prove otherwise other than this specific example. And it sems to me that many people do take responsibility for their actions.
Over the weekend a friend of mine knocked a cyclist off his bike. Perhaps not the best story to write about during National Bike Week, but once again it is an example of people doing the right thing. The details of the accident aren’t as important as the outcome. The cyclist recognised that he had made a dodgy manoeuvre and was at fault, and showed nothing but concern for the driver and the car. The driver was equally concerned about the cyclist. This was a very unfortunate incident that could have been nasty, but wasn’t. It could easily have gone down a legal route if it weren’t for the two people being genuinely concerned about each other’s well-being and realising that no real harm was done.
These are three examples of basic honesty that I encountered this week, and I feel that they all deserve to be noted. Not because they’re unusual, but because they might be more common than we are sometimes willing to recognise.
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