How much is your integrity worth?

Who hasn't fantasized about a bag of money falling off a truck? While at lunch today the guy ahead of me in line dropped a quarter, which I promptly returned. He then asked, "Would you have been so quick to return it if it were a $20 or $50 dollar bill?"

I quickly replied, "I would have returned it in either case!!!" I immediately began thinking, "Is there an amount and circumstances in which I would not return the money?"

Let's use the scenario at the beginning; an unmarked truck drives by and a bag containing $100 in singles falls off. Do you look for a way to return the money? By all accounts, honesty should be an absolute, you are either honest or you are not.

Would your answer change if it were $1 Million? What if you found out that the money belonged to orphans, would that make a difference? What if it belonged to drug dealers, would it make a dfference now?

Both, amounts and circumstances, could change, but your personal integrity should not. If your answer changes according to amounts or circumstances, you should really re-evaluate whether or not you consider yourself an honest person.

It is the subtle shades of grey that often unseat us from our true character. My grandfather once told me something a long time ago that still holds true to this day: "Money is a temporary possession. Those that seek to hold on to it too tightly, often lose sight of the reasons for earning it in the first place."

Greed, or avarice is often the downfall of many great people. A zen-master once stated to me, "The man who can find happiness with what he has, will never be defeated by want again." We enter and exit this world the exact same way: with nothing.

The things that we acquire during our lives, regardless of how much joy and pleasure they may bring, are often inherited by others and continue on without us. Can we learn to continue on without them as easily? Are we the sum of the things that we have acquired during our respective lifetimes?

I like to think that a persons true wealth is measured by the love shared with friends and family. Frank Capra's "It's a wonderful life" may have been hokey and corny, but I think it absolutely illustrated wealth as it pertains to the human condition.

Again, I'll ask the question, "How much is your integrity worth?"