If you’ve ever lost your wallet then you should appreciate
this story. Back in 2013 the Readers Digest magazine tried a fascinating experiment in honesty. They went to 16 different cities around the
world and in each city left 12 wallets lying around as if lost. The wallets were dropped in parks, near
shopping malls, on sidewalks, etc, and in each wallet was a name with a cell
phone number, a family photo, coupons, business cards, and the equivalent of
$50.
Overall, 47% of the wallets were returned, (although some
cities faired far better than others) and contrary to what some may expect, age,
gender, or economic status seemed to matter little. There were honest, and dishonest, people in
every pigeonhole.
The top six cities included the only American city (New
York) to be tested.
They are:
1. Helsinki,
Finland
(Wallets returned: 11 out of 12)
2. Mumbai,
India (Wallets
returned: 9 out of 12)
3. (TIE) Budapest,
Hungary
(Wallets returned: 8 out of 12)
3. (TIE) New
York City, U.S.A.
(Wallets returned: 8 out of 12)
4. (TIE) Moscow,
Russia
(Wallets returned: 7 out of 12)
4. (TIE) Amsterdam,
the Netherlands
(Wallets returned: 7 out of 12)
The bottom six are as follows:
7. (TIE) Bucharest,
Romania
(Wallets returned: 4 out of 12)
7. (TIE) Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil
(Wallets returned: 4 out of 12)
7. (TIE) Zurich,
Switzerland
(Wallets returned: 4 out of 12)
8. Prague,
Czech Republic
(Wallets returned: 3 out of 12)
9. Madrid,
Spain (Wallets
returned: 2 out of 12)
10. Lisbon,
Portugal
(Wallets returned:1 out of 12)
I’d love to try this wallet experiment in Terre
Haute, although I’m not particularly keen on putting
$600 at risk. But if I were to do it, I
would expect the people here to rank among the top 6. Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but I think this
is a good place, full of good people.
What I found especially interesting were the reasons the
honest 47% gave for returning the wallets.
Most of them said things like this:
“Of course we returned the wallet. Honesty is an inner
conviction."
“My conscience wouldn't let me do anything wrong. A
wallet is a big thing with many important documents [in it]."
"I am convinced that people should help one another,
and if I can make someone a little happier, I will."
“I saw the photo of the mother with her child. Whatever
else is important, a photo like that means something to the owner."
"My parents taught me how important being honest is.
Once I lost an entire bag, but I got everything back. So, I know what it feels
like."
"If you find money, you can't assume it belongs to a
rich man. It might be the last bit of
money a mother has to feed her family."[1]
Nobody said: “I returned the wallet so I can go to heaven
when I die,” or “I had to do it because God was watching.” Nobody said “I returned the wallet because
the Bible told me to,” or “I wanted to impress my minister.” In fact, while many of the honest folk were
almost certainly Christians, they didn’t tend to refer to their faith at all
when explaining their moral choices. They did the right thing because they wanted
to do the right thing, and because they had feelings of empathy and concern for
the person who had lost the wallet.
Christian morality is really about becoming that kind of
person, one who sympathizes with others, and genuinely wants to make the world
a kinder place. I’ve always seen the
heart of Christ-like morality to reside in two of Jesus’ core principles: “Do to others as you would have them do to
you.” (Luke 6:31 NRSV); and
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31
NRSV). These are really two ways of
expressing one truth, which is basically “empathize with people and treat them
nice.” And in practicing these
principles, it’s ironic that some non-Christians are more “Christian” than some
Christians.
If you find a wallet, return it. If a cashier gives you too much change, say
something. If you can prosper by harming
another, resist the temptation. And
don’t do these things out of fear or selfish desire. Do them because God, through Christ, has
changed you into the kind of person who wants to do these things.
And in this way we people of Terre
Haute can give Helsinki
a run for the money.
Yours in Christ;
David
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