Go on
Take the money and run
Something rather remarkable happened to me last Saturday: the universe presented me with a gift at the precise moment that I needed that gift.
Or maybe not. Maybe the universe was testing my character instead of giving me a gift.
I’ll tell you what happened, and you tell me what you think.
* * * * *
Every Saturday morning, I walk to a nearby farmers market.
One of the vendors that’s been selling at that market for years is Coulter Farms, a family-owned producer of milk, cheese, and other dairy products.
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| Not true! (Keep reading!) |
Coulter Farms makes wonderful chocolate milk. I have a couple of grandchildren who are addicted to it, so I usually buy a quart for each of them.
These days, I pay for just about everything with plastic. But Coulter Farms charges a 50-cent fee to customers who use credit cards. So I pay cash money for my weekly chocolate milk purchases.
* * * * *
Unfortunately, I found myself with only $2 in cash when it was time to head to the farmers market last Saturday. So it looked like I was going to have to cough up the extra 50 cents and use a credit card.
By the way, trying to save 50 cents by using cash instead of a credit card does not mean that I am cheap! I am NOT cheap – but I hate to waste money for no reason.
(If you still think I’m cheap, let me point out that a quart of Coulter Farms chocolate milk costs $6 – significantly more than the grocery-store stuff. But I think it’s worth every penny, and I happily pay the premium price.)
* * * * *
I grabbed a baseball cap from my car before walking to the market, which meant using the elevator that services the parking garage at the 2 or 3 lines world headquarters building.
Imagine my surprise when I saw two $20 bills lying on the floor in front of that elevator’s doors!
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At first, I was hesitant to pick them up. It seemed too good to be true – the modern-day equivalent of the manna that God provided the Israelites while they wandered in the desert after escaping from their bondage in Egypt.
I looked around carefully before bending down to pick up the cash, but there was no one in sight.
I stuck the two twenties into my pocket and hit the elevator’s “down” button. But then I took one of the bills and dropped it on the floor where I had found it.
After all, $20 was more than enough to cover my chocolate milk purchases that day. No sense in being greedy and inviting bad karma – right?
* * * * *
What would you have done?
Would you have picked up the twenties and gone on your merry way without a second thought?
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| (Maybe you agree.) |
Would you have left the cash on the ground in hopes that the person who lost it realized what happened and was able to recover it before some other rando snatched it up?
Or would you have pocketed one of the bills and left the other one where it was – which is what I did?
* * * * *
Steve Miller’s early records were much better than his later ones, but the later ones were much more popular. Go figure.
Click here to listen to “Take the Money and Run,” which was released on the Steve Miller Band’s 1976 album, Fly Like an Eagle.
Click here to buy “Take the Money and Run” from Amazon.
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