Honesty is its own reward

A friend messaged me two weeks go to tell me that she'd hit the mirror of a parked car while driving along a narrow road.

She's a conscientious person and found somewhere safe to pull over in order to write a note to leave for the car's owner.

The next day the owner called to say that she was really touched by my friend's honesty and that she (the owner) was sure that the mirror could be fixed since she had all the pieces.  She was adamant that the cost to repair the damage would be and should be minimal.

Last week I got the update. 

When the owner took her car to the garage to get the replacement mirror she was told that the cost of a new mirror was in excess of $600!  She requested a second-hand mirror, suggesting that the business had to have second-hand mirrors in its inventory.  Again, she was told that the replacement cost was $600+.  When she pushed back the two men with whom she was interacting were insistent that as the victim of the accident she should have the new replacement.   At this point she asked to speak with the manager who upon hearing the entire story, agreed with her that there were second-hand mirrors available which would serve as an adequate replacement, and the cost was $143!

She called my friend to let her know the ultimate cost and shared the story of what happened at the garage.  And, my friend called me to share her story about the human spirit in action.

This is a story about doing the right thing when it would have been easy not do so, and that act of integrity creating a ripple effect of generosity of spirit when it would have been easy to have given in to the temptation of making my friend pay, literally, for the accident.

In this the last week of 2022, it is my hope that everyone reading this finds the time to do the right thing and to lean into the spirit of generosity.