My wife, Denise, and I have always strived to raise our two daughters to live right and do the right thing. You know, live by the Golden Rule.
So my youngest daughter and her boyfriend were in need of a second car because they were no longer able to make their schedules work with only the one car they had. My wife heard of a family at her synagogue who had a decent car that they wanted to get rid of, in fact, they wanted to give it away. So the first thing that goes through one’s mind is that it is a piece of junk, right? Well, this car is a mid to late ’80s Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and only has about 30,000 original miles on it! It’s the perfect car for someone who needs something reliable to get around town, to work and to school.
After they got the car home, my daughter’s boyfriend was exploring around to see what he could find in the trunk that might be of use. He found an emergency kit and when he opened it up, not only did he find the standard items that could be helpful like bandaids and salve, but he found $100 in cash. He showed my daughter and they both had no other thoughts than to return it to the owner of the car who had given it to them!
That makes me proud. Either of them could have talked the other into keeping it and nobody would be any the wiser. With the cost of gasoline these days and having near minimum wage part time jobs, that would have been a couple of tank fulls of good times, but they did the right thing and returned the money to the person who gave them the car.
The ex-owners of the car were flabbergasted. In fact they were so impressed, they brought down $20 to the synagogue where my wife works and gave her instructions to give it to the kids as a reward for being so honest. But you know what? It’s very nice of them to share some of the money, but it wasn’t necessary or expected on the kids’ parts.
My wife and I are just more than pleased to know that we have managed to successfully bring up our kids. And my daughters, both of them — one having chosen a boyfriend and one having chosen a husband, have chosen mates who mirror their own values. That is the kind of thing that makes parents proud.