Itís sort of the Super Bowl of financial moral dilemmas.
You live in an older home. One day, while rummaging through your garage, you find a mysterious metal box filled withÖMONEY!
Itís not really yours, but then again, you own the homeÖsoooo, isnít it really yours?
Josh Ferrin of Salt Lake City faced that very scenario. While exploring the home he had just purchased, he opened a hatch in the garage, climbed up the ladder, and discovered a metal box filled with roughly forty-five thousand dollars.
He naturally thought about how such a large sum of money could go a long way to pay bills, or just buy things he never could afford. Wouldnít we all.
But he also thought about the homeís previous owner, a man by the name of Arnold Bangerter, who died last November and left the home to his children.
After he finished counting the money at his parentís house, Ferrin called one of Bangerterís sons with the news.
It turns out that, while Mr. Bangerterís children remember him as a saver not a spender, they were completely floored that he had saved so much. And Iím sure they were grateful for Mr. Ferrinís generous deed.
I have to admit, Iíve harbored such fantasies during my life.
I live in an older home that has had several previous owners, and the thought has crossed my mind that one of them may have squirrelled away a tidy savings somewhere in my attic. I even catch myself poking and prodding the insulation from time to time when Iím up there, just in case.
I imagine finding the box, prying it open with my teeth, and counting the bazzillions of bills inside.
But then what?
The angel sitting on my shoulderÖthe one I have trouble hearing from time to time because of my bad ear on that sideÖtells me that found money may feel good, but earned money feels better. He whines in my ear when I pass a display of lottery tickets too.
The devil sitting on my other shoulderÖthe one who shouts a lot, likes all the attention, and Iím having lunch with laterÖ tells me that possession is nine tenths of the law and, well, who will ever know?
I applaud Mr. Ferrinís decision. He was truly tempted to keep the money, but knew deep inside it represented the fruits of someone elseís labor. He also wisely surmised that he could never truly enjoy the money knowing what he knows.
I would vote for Mr. Ferrin for Congress. Congress could use more like him.
I can also tell you what I would do if I were one of the Bangerter kids. Thereís no way Mr. Ferrin would leave my house without half of the money.
Hereís how I figure it.
Mr. Ferrin couldíve said nothing, the Bangerter kids wouldíve known nothing, and Mr. Ferrin couldíve laughed all the way to the bank, enjoying his ěfindî for quite a while. He instead deliberately chose to seek them out.
That earns him a big fat reward in my book. And nothing should give these kids more pleasure than rewarding a good soul for his honesty. I hope they will.
People are funny though when it comes to found money.
Iíve often thought it would be interesting to announce publicly that Iíve found a metal box on a local roadside containing money. (I would put ten dollars in the box and have someone throw it out along a roadside, retrieving it later just so I wouldnít be telling a fib.)
I would announce that I am seeking the owner of the box, and then wait to see how many people would come forward to claim it.
I bet I would spend a full day weeding through phone messages from victims of loss who are ěthrilled that I found Aunt Minnieís box.î
We all want free money. But the older I get, the more Iíd rather have a few more Mr. Ferrins in the world. You canít buy people like him with any amount of money.
Kent Bernhardt lives in Salisbury.