Issues With Finding a $50 Bill

Last Friday I walked into the mini-mart to pay for gas.  I get to the register and out of the corner of my eye I catch what I think is the corner of a $ bill.  I look down.  Holy shit!  It’s a $50 bill on top of the Extra gum.  OMG!  I slide the $50 into my pocket, paid for my gas and quickly left.

I didn’t turn it in.  I felt a little guilty about this, but I felt if I found it then I should keep it.  If I knew who dropped it I would have gladly given it back.  I felt bad that I didn’t return it so at work I asked a few people’s opinion on if I did the right thing.  I received mixed reviews.  I believe in karma and that I should do the right thing and be honest.  I would have liked to return it to the owner because if I lost $50 (or anything of value) I would hope someone would be honest and return it to me.

Questions started to form in my head.  What if the person who lost the $50 needed it to buy groceries?  What if the person who lost the $50 was well off and shrugged the loss off to his fault for being in a hurry?  What if it was an elderly person who was on a limited budget?

This is how screwed up I am about money.  I’m embarrassed to be sharing this part of my life, but part of the reason I started this blog was to share my story (good or bad) so I’m putting it out there.

The thing I learned from this is that I believe that I shouldn’t gain because of someone else’s misfortune.  This is a stupid belief and I have no idea where it came from.

First of all — what is misfortune?  Google defines it as “bad luck or an unfortunate condition or event”.

Second of all  — why do I let misfortune guide my life?  People gain from other people’s misfortunes every day.  One person gets a job because someone else is sick and can’t make the interview.  A small business gets in over their head financially and a bigger company buys them out.  These are the only two examples I could come up with at the moment.

I definitely need to change the beliefs I have about money.  They are not working for me anymore.  I don’t know what I’m going to replace them with, but I have to replace them with something positive and uplifting and that gives permission to have the money I want in my life.

After thinking about how I let money into my life, I realize that there are only two ways I allow money into my life — my job and the lottery/gambling.  Laugh if you will.  I’m shaking my head.  It’s interesting and ridiculous at the same time.  How could I be this closed off mentally for this long?  How did I not know I had these beliefs?

Maybe this is why I haven’t achieved my dream of becoming a published author because I won’t let myself get paid for my writing because it’s not on the list of how I’m supposed to get paid.   It’s ridiculous and angers me, but that is a whole different blog post for a different day.

I’m saving the $50 for when we go to Vegas in October.  Maybe it will bring me luck when I play the slot machines.  🙂

 

14 thoughts on “Issues With Finding a $50 Bill”

  1. According to my religion, (karma originated here) if you don’t give back the money which is not yours or use it for some charitable purpose, you will have to take another birth and keep taking endless births – until you have paid the sum back to its rightful owner.
    Just kidding lol, relax. 😉

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      1. But you should find the owner of the money. At least you should try by enquiring at the store whether someone came looking for it or not. Who knows- that person might be in a greater need of it than you. I mean, my conscience wouldn’t allow me to sleep at night if I ever did this. I don’t mean you say what you have done is right or wrong. I don’t know your circumstances. But nature has a very tacit way of acknowledging our deeds.
        A long time ago, when I was just born, my dad had lost a lot of money in the share market. One day, he found a pouch which had 2,00,000 rupees. There was also a card of the person whose money it was. My dad could have easily pocketed the money as the situation at home was very bad. But he stood true to the values and the principles that his father had instilled in him and he went on the address which was written on the card. Turned out that the man was some influential businessman who hadn’t even realised that he had forgotten his money in the park. Astonished as he was on receiving that sum of hard cash back, he visited our house and realised that the financial position of my household was not too strong. Today, my father looms after his entire portfolio and of a bunch of other similar people.
        To conclude, had he kept those 2,00,000 that day, today we wouldn’t be where we presently are.

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      2. I was kidding about taking the money to Vegas. I am using the money to buy school supplies to donate to our church to give the the poorest school district in my city.

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    1. I just started writing for myelf. Over the years i have stopped and started and stopped writing and started. No stopping anymore. I try to write for an hour a day. Starting this blog has really helped with my writing. Thanks for reading.

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  4. Great post. Years ago, a bank teller mistakenly gave me about $60 extra dollars at the drive-thru. When I realized it, I drove back and gave her the money. She thanked me profusely, telling me that most customers would have kept the money and it would have come out of her salary. I’ve found you never feel good about taking what’s not yours, so you’re better off doing what’s right. The way I see it, maybe the $50 was left there so you could buy the school supplies.

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