The $5 Integrity Test

Last Friday, at the Sea-Tac airport, we had a brief interaction with a flyer. Afterward, Chrissie turned to me and asked, “Blog post?”

I said, “Yup.”

We were sitting at the gate, facing another row of people. From left to right, there was a young couple, a chair with a backpack on it, and then another, older man. Eventually, the young couple stood up, the man picked up his backpack, and turned to walk away.

Chrissie spoke up, “Excuse me, sir, but some money fell out of your backpack.”

The young man looked back at the seat, saw it, and said, “That’s not mine. It was there when we sat down.”

As he walked away, I noticed that he was an imposing man and carried himself with the bearing of a military man. After they left, I turned to Chrissie and said, “I’m impressed by his integrity,”

Sure, it was only a $5 bill, and it wouldn’t have even registered if the man had said, “Oh, thanks!” and scooped it up. But he didn’t. I sat and watched that $5 bill for the next few minutes, and observed that the older man still seated next to it kept glancing at it.

A few minutes later, the couple came back and sat down again. When we eventually headed off to our flight, the bill was still there, untouched.

My thought, while a bit presumptuous, was that the young man who walked away had integrity. And I admired him for it.

Years ago, our Stake President was an amazing man named Russ Thornock. He told a story that still resonates with me. One day, he stopped at a vending machine to buy a can of soda. He put in his money and made his choice. The soda came out, but so did his money.

Free soda! Right?

President Thornock said, (paraphrasing) “I knew it wasn’t my money, but I didn’t know what to do. If I put it back in the machine, I might get another soda and get the money back, too – compounding the problem.”

What he ended up choosing was to just leave the coins in the coin return and walk away. Again, he reinforced, “It wasn’t my money. The next guy can do with it what he chooses.”

I thought a lot about that, and still recall the story because I knew in my heart that had it been me, I would have just pocketed the money and counted it as a blessing. I mean, it’s only a buck or two, right?

But his lesson stuck, and I have always walked past “found money” since then.

This idea basically boils down to a simple concept: What price integrity?

“The Lord expects us to live lives of integrity and to be obedient to his commandments... A little lying, a little cheating, or taking a little unfair advantage is not acceptable to the Lord (see 2 Ne. 28:8–9). The scriptures warn that these are Satan’s ways to lead us “carefully down to destruction” (v. 21). (Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin)

$5 is not a large amount of money to find, but what we choose to do with it is demonstrative of our character. “Integrity is so precious that it is beyond price; it is invaluable.” (Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin)

I’m grateful to the young man who exemplified integrity by walking away from a fiver without so much as a shrug, and for reminding me of Russ Thornock’s vending machine dilemma from decades ago.

Good Sabbath!