A Bright Spot

Now I know that in my last blog, I wrote about the amount of negativity that surrounds us everyday and what we can possibly do to make things right, or at least a little better.

So I decided that now, I'm going to write about a recent bright spot I discovered in today's often confusing and downtrodden society.

On Wednesday evening, I was home relaxing with my son while my wife ran to the store to pick up a few groceries and necessities. My son was playing a video game as I laid on the couch, reading a really good book with my feet up. The telephone rang so I jumped up to answer it. The caller ID said "Unavailable," so I thought, "Probably a telemarketer or something," so I hung up the phone and returned to my reading and relaxing.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. I jumped up to see who it was. I did not recognize the name and the area code appeared to be a Kansas City-area number. So I picked it up and answered. This was the dialogue that followed:

Me: "Hello."

Man: (In Hispanic accent) "Is this Mr. Jason E. Silvers?"

Me: "Yes, who is calling please?"

Man: (Says who he is) "I think you or your wife must have left your checkbook in the parking lot at Wal-Mart, because that's where I found it."

Me: "Yes, my wife was shopping there a little while ago, she probably dropped it."

Man: "Well sir, if you would like, I can leave it at the front desk for you to pick it up."

Me: "Yes, that would be great. One of us will be out there shortly to pick it up. Thank you so much, and thanks for calling to let us know."

Man: "No problem, sir."

Now this dialogue may not be the exact words that were exchanged, but it basically amounts to what was said. The point is that this person who did not know me or my family had found our checkbook in the parking lot at Wal-Mart, and rather than possibly taking advantage of this situation and not informing anyone, had the decency and courtesy to call us and let us know.

Shortly after I hung up the phone, my wife had returned home and I let her know what had happened. I knew she would be distraught, which she was, so I jumped in our truck to head out and retrieve our checkbook.

I went to the customer service desk, where the extremely nice young man greeted me and I told him of our unfortunate situation. After a call from the store assistant manager, he explained to me that our checkbook was locked up safe and that a manager needed to come get it for us. The associate handed me the checkbook, I checked to make sure it was ours, thanked the young man after he told me to "have a great day!" and headed home. And did I mention that the associate told me that he had worked double shifts that day, and as tired as he looked, he still showed caring and professionalism when dealing with this unexpected occurrence.

On my way home, I thought about a similar situation that happened to us about seven or eight years ago, when a box of our checks was stolen from our apartment mailbox. They eventually found the culprit, but for months, my wife and I had to make repeated trips to our bank to sign forms stating that the forged checks were not ours. I'm talking about a box of like 100 checks or something, so this went on for awhile. We were devastated when that happened, and it took several months, maybe even a year, to clear it up.

But that situation was eventually solved, much like this most recent episode. And it leads me to believe that even with all of the disturbed and deranged people running around out there, especially in this era of identity theft, there is still some good left in humanity, as is evidenced by this honest young man who took the time to call us and report our discovered checkbook.

So, to that young man, I want to say "Thank You" on behalf of myself and my family, for your good deed should not go unrewarded. And it is those good deeds that provide the shining light in a world that is often dark.