“In a world of universal deceit, simply telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
The above mentioned saying is applicable to our present contemporary world too. We live on a planet where deceptions, lies, betrayal and bitterness are so common that its discouraging to see how many people are shocked by honesty, but not by deceit.Honesty is precious, but rare. Example of such rarity was seen in the city of Jaipur, India where a Muslim rickshaw driver showed marvelous honesty, when he could have easily obtained a huge (but temporary) gain.
Abid Qureshi, a man with a minute income with a wife and a baby girl to feed, found a bag with money inside it worth one lac seventeen thousand rupees. He could have easily, very very easily taken this amount home, told his wife about it and perhaps would have started a better life which was not possible with the few rupees he received everyday by driving people to their destinations in his ordinary rickshaw. He could have started a life with that one lac seventeen thousand; he could have given his small family better clothes, better food to eat or perhaps a better house to live and a new business to look after. But no. He didn’t do it.
He didn’t bring that amount home, he didn’t look with greedy eyes upon that money that wasn’t his at all, he didn’t think about giving his daughter and wife those clothes, that food, that house, that business which was all triggered by something that wasn’t permitted; neither in his religion, nor in the moral rules that a respectable person should abide by.
So ladies and gentlemen, this man waited 6 hours for the real owner of this money, but to no avail. Even then in those 6 hours, when he could’ve decided to hide that money in his home, he didn’t think about possessing something that clearly wasn’t his and was ‘haraam’ (forbidden).
His wife, Amina, and he decided that honesty is better than sugar-coated crap. They, without any form of greed, handed over the money to the police station.
We still don’t know whether that money would be returned to its respective owner. Maybe somewhere in the way, some person will have his greed overcome his honesty. Maybe somewhere in the way poverty will force a person’s honesty to wane, eventually causing deceit to win. But the thing here is that honest hearts produce honest actions.
The rickshaw driver did his part. He earned respect, appreciation, trust, and surely, his loyalty will be returned. Indeed, no legacy is as rich as honesty.
Razzan Sehar
Angels International College
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