Posted on 11/17/2017 8:04:10 PM PST by nickcarraway
A story of lost and found has led to a lesson in honesty and integrity from an 8-year-old boy.
As CBS2’s Brian Conybeare reported, Orange County fourth grader Frankie Burns found a wallet loaded with nearly $2,000 cash in the Bronx over the weekend. But he never once thought of keeping it for himself.
Maybe we can all learn something from Frankie.
“Do the right thing!” he said.
On Saturday, the soccer and Gaelic football player from Washingtonville did just that. He was headed with his team from St. Brendan’s in Orange County to a playoff game at Paddy’s Field in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx.
They were unloading their gear in front of a house on Van Cortlandt Park East when Frankie made a surprise discovery.
“I see a wallet and I gave it to my dad, and he opened it to see like whose it was, and he just sees like a lot of hundred-dollar bills,” Frankie said.
There were 17 $100 bills, to be exact. And Frankie said there was never a thought in his mind that he might keep it.
“I didn’t earn the money,” he said. “The other guy did from working.”
Frankie and his friends were sitting on a stone wall putting on their cleats when he saw the wallet sitting in the grass. But what he didn’t know at the time was that the owner of that wallet was the victim of a violent crime.
“He said that he just got out of the hospital – he was in there for four or five days – that he was mugged the previous Saturday because he got hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat, so he had stitches from the back of his neck to the top of his head,” said Frankie’s father, Frank Burns.
Frankie’s dad said the mugging victim was going to pay his rent with cash and managed to keep it from the attackers. But the victim apparently dropped it after being injured.
The elder Burns and his wife are proud of the boy who only had one thought about what to do with all the money.
“Give it back to the owner,” Frankie said.
After using a dental ID card they found in the wallet, they tracked the man down and met face-to-face.
When asked how happy the man was to see the money, Frankie said, “Really happy, because his brother and his friend had to pay for his rent while he was in the hospital.”
And Frankie got an unexpected reward for his good deed.
“We just started talking and then out of nowhere, he went to you to give you something and he just pulled out $100,” he said.
Frankie said the money will help him buy a new pair of soccer cleats. Meanwhile, his team won the Gaelic football playoff game that day, and they are in the championship game this weekend.
Good for him!
Thank you for posting this - heartening story for sure.
Welcome to Free Republic
I saw an old B+W film from the 30’s a long time ago.
I can’t remember the name of the film, it was a Christmas type film.
The premise was these three old rich guys would load wallets up with cash along with a card that identified them as the wallets owner.
They would place them on the street as though they had lost them.
Whenever some honest soul would turn up to return the wallet the rich guys would give them a Christmas they would never forget, and lots of $$$ to set them up for success.
It was a wonderful old Christmas movie.
A big problem that I have with the modern MSM & Pop.Culture is the incessant and corrosive effort to find & display bad even in this kind of feel-good stories. At 8yo, it is unlikely that this fine young man is anything but what appears on the surface but the older the *hero* the likelier that you would read about detracting characteristics.
As for *this* boy, I hope he stays true and grows to become a great exemplifier of a man!
What a heartwarming story...
Not the product of a public school. I suspect he learns anti-social justice things like honesty, the Ten Commandments, and the Bible
Got real questions about anybody who carries 17 $100 bills, hard enough to get change for a single one.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the owner was up to illegal activity, probably pays no taxes and doesn’t have a bank account.
I know FR tradition is to not click on links and go read the article, but at least read the excerpt. It’ll explain why the guy had so much cash.
LOL
You are right, but I did read it later and still feel that normal people use checks to pay their rent.
Most people pay rent through check or even direct charge/card. But then I do know some people who pay rent in cash. either they tend to have financial or legal issues, and tend to work odd jobs for cash under the table, so they can’t really deposit too much of that. Or, they may not have a direct rental agreement - subrenting a room from a friend or acquaintance, or a verbal agreement. Usually people prefer cash in that case.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.