Finders Keepers, part II
February 8, 2008 by Kathy McManus
A couple of weeks ago, we told you about “Finder Keepers” a woman finds an envelope with $770 cash--lost by a frantic holiday shopper on the floor of a toy store--and takes it directly to the police.
When police return the money to the grateful shopper, the Good Samaritan thinks the story is over.
But it was just beginning.
After The Boston Globe ran an article identifying her, Anne Marie Weineck told us, her mailbox was soon overflowing with cards and letters from people across the country who had read about her good deed. Some sent cash, saying they wanted to “give something back” to her. Many thanked her for “paying it forward.”
“I didn’t know what the phrase meant,” confessed Ms. Weineck, an unassuming, 54 year old widow. Her kids explained it, but she couldn’t understand what the fuss was about.
Honestly, we asked her, hadn’t she been even the slightest bit tempted to keep the cash when she first found it? “Well,” Ms. Weineck said and paused, “I wanted a new TV. But I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I’d kept the money.”
She wouldn’t even allow herself to keep the small gifts of money she was receiving in the mail—she insisted on sharing them with the woman who had originally lost the $770. “If it wasn’t for her dropping the money in the first place,” Ms. Weineck said, “none of this would have happened.”
Ultimately, in the whimsical loop of paying it forward, an anonymous reader sent Ms. Weineck something that would not fit in her mailbox—a new HDTV. Ms. Weineck is grateful. But this Good Samaritan made one thing clear to us: she’s a Reluctant Samaritan.
“I think I got too much attention!” she said. “If I ever find money again, I’m taking it to the police station and running out the door!”
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February 8, 2008 by Geoff Blair
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December 22, 2009 by Diane
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March 23, 2008 by S. Wade
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January 22, 2009 by
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March 5, 2009 by a 13 year old :) lol
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March 16, 2009 by Ora
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March 23, 2009 by Ruby Burnett
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July 3, 2009 by elaine zipse
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May 22, 2010 by GLORIA
I think stories like these are becoming more and more rare. Rare in that it will not be unusual for brethren to outwardly take care of one another. It's a lovely story, but sad that it should be less than commonplace. I believe that the shift we are in the midst of right now, is bringing us closer to realizing that we are all brothers and sisters here. We are getting closer, one by one, doing unto others, as we'd have them do unto us. We'll be responding in a reciprocal way, sharing, giving and loving because our true natures will be once again uncovered.
I had a situation once where the temperatures were well below zero, and I was fumbling for my keys to open the car door. I had my two toddlers in the shopping cart. I was flustered, and my hands felt nearly frost bitten in the short time it had taken me to get out doors. Two Samaritans, coming from different directions, one a man and one a woman, told me to get the children in the car, and they would put my groceries in the car. I didn't stop to think about whether their intentions were good, I just took their offer, getting my children hooked into their car seats. They closed the hatch of My SUV for me, having gotten my bags in the car, and then literally disappeared. l drove off, panicking, my hands now burning beneath my rabbit lined leather gloves. I never saw them again. They disappeared they same way they had arrived. Seemingly, they had come together to aid us in our need, and then were gone. It wasn't until I got home, and my hands had recovered, that I came to the belief that I had been helped by Angels. But Angels among us are becoming more and more common. They're called YOu and Me, and together, we're realizing that it's how we're meant to be.
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October 25, 2010 by Sam Wilbert
I have had the same thing happen to me in sort of a different situation. I was taking the trash out at my girlfriend's apartment. When I approached the dumpster I found a wallet on the ground. I picked up the wallet and opened it. There was over $300 in the wallet. My first thought was to see whose wallet was it. I looked and found a picture in it with a guy I knew. I had no doubt that I was going to give him his wallet back with the money in it . I feel if you take something small as $300 dollars you would eventually lose triple or even more of the number in the long run.
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