When my son Ben returned home from his run this morning, he was carrying a driver's license that he had found lying in the middle of the road. Since Ben had to leave for the airport within the hour, it was up to me to find a way to return the license to its rightful owner as quickly as possible. You can easily imagine the sinking feeling you'd have when you realize you've lost your wallet. I didn't want someone to have that feeling for very long, so I went to work.
The license belonged to a man who lives in Cherry Hill and so I did a reverse lookup online to see if I could get a phone number. I figured the sooner I let him know I had it, the easier he would rest. Unfortunately, the phone number had been disconnected.
Thankfully, Moorestown is a pretty small town where many of us know each other. It turns out that I recognized the last name on the license and was pretty sure it belonged to the son of a man I know in town. I looked up the father's phone number and by 7:20 this morning had him on the line. Sure enough, I was able to confirm that it was, indeed, his son who had lost the license. Since I had to be in Cherry Hill this afternoon anyway, I told him that I'd drop it off at his son's house today. He promised to call his son right away with the good news.
Arriving at the appropriate house this afternoon, I knocked on the door and was greeted by the owner's wife. I handed her the license and explained where I had gotten it. I'm not sure she realized it had been lost, but she sure seemed relieved to have gotten it back and was thankful Ben had found it.
Going the extra effort to get the license back to the right person within hours of finding it felt like the right thing to do. I know I sure would appreciate it if I was on the other end. And, to a certain degree, I suppose that's what kindness really is - doing for others what you hope others would do for you.
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