The Responsibility Project^®. Exploring what it means to do the right thing

Paying It Forward

5 Comments

May 29, 2008 by Kathy McManus

Sometimes a painful loss can bring a blissful reunion. 

 But a happy ending was not what Grammy-nominated violinist Philippe Quint envisioned when he saw a taxi pull away from his New York City apartment with a four million dollar Stradivarius violin on loan to him still inside. 

Quint was returning home from Dallas, where he had performed with the irreplaceable 285 year old instrument. After unloading his luggage from the cab, Quint turned to retrieve the Stradivarius, but the sonorous strings were replaced by the onerous sight of the taxi’s retreating tail lights. 

Stradivarius precarious. 

“I almost fainted,” Quint said. Unable to get the cab’s license number, the panicked 34-year-old musician called the police and the taxi commission before heading back toward the Newark Airport--where his plane had landed and his ride began--to view taxi mug shots with authorities. 

New York has an impressive history of taxi drivers responsibly returning various Stradivarius and other expensive strings inadvertently left in their vehicles, including a $4 million cello, and later, a $2.5 million cello belonging to the virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma. 

In this case, the taxi was a minivan, a clue that narrowed the search to just eight possible cabs. The next day, the driver was identified and contacted. Mohammed Khalil immediately looked inside his taxi, which had been parked overnight on a Newark street. A man of modest means, it didn’t occur to Mr. Khalil to do something nefarious with the four million dollar Stradivarius he found safe and sound inside. 

Instead, he rushed to do the right thing, reuniting the violin with the violinist, who fell to his knees and wept, then emptied his wallet and handed the contents--$100--to Mr. Khalil. 

But the real reward wafted over the taxi holding area at Newark Airport two weeks later, when a grateful Philippe Quint gave a special performance of thanks for Mohammed Khalil and 200 of his fellow drivers, as taxis idled and airplanes taxied in accompaniment. 

“Anybody out here would have done the same thing,” asserted a modest Mr. Khalil. Moved by the music and the motivation behind it, another audience member noted, “A lost violin brought everyone together.” 

Tell us your story: Have you ever lost something of great value and then gotten it back through the kindness of a stranger? Have you ever been the stranger who returned someone’s irreplaceable item?

5 Comments

What do you think? Leave a comment

• March 27, 2009 by Anonymous

  It was 5am and I was catching an early morning flight from DFW airport. I had been in Dallas for business and coordinated with my wife I would fly back to New England, make it home by noon for her to drive our son where he was expected 3 hours away. I returned my rental car at its remote location away from the airport terminals. I took the shuttle bus and just as I was unloading the contents of my pockets to go through security, I saw the car keys that belonged to the rental car. I had about 20 minutes before my flight was supposed to take off. I grabbed my things and ran outside and looked for the car rental shuttle to return the keys. I waited and waited. Two minutes went by when I decided it would be worth the $20 cab fare to get these keys back so I could make my flight. Just then a cab pulled up and I ran over to it and the driver asked if I wanted a ride. I said I did and waited for the person to get out of the backseat. I waited and waited. The person getting out of the Taxi was in no hurry so by the time he finally paid for his cab fare and got out of the car. I jumped in the backseat and was ready to go. At this point the cab driver and the patron walked around the back of the cab to get the gentleman's suitcases out of the trunk. He had several, and again neither was in a hurry. I sat and waited praying to have the patience I was obviously being required to have at this moment. I heard the trunk close and felt a surge of relief. Then another man walked up to ask for directions. At this point I jumped out of the cab and all three men turned to look at me. The cab driver asked, "Do you still need a ride?" and I said I did. I humbly crawled back into the car realizing I obviously needed to demonstrate more patience than I thought I had. There were no other cabs in sight and I was now down to 15 minutes before my flight would take off. The cab driver finally returned to the front seat of the car. In the time I was waiting it occurred to me to ask how long it would take to drive to the car rental center. He said, "About 10 minutes." At that point I realized there was no way I'd make my flight and it was then that either a great idea or potentially the world's stupidest idea came to me. I asked, "Have you ever heard of anyone asking a cab driver to return car rental keys for them?" He said, "It happens, but not often." That didn't do much for my reassurance. He looked like an honest man though so I asked if he would return these keys for me (knowing I would have to accept the repercussions). He said he would and I asked how much the cab fare was to the car rental center and back. He said the fare was $22 and I had less than a $20 so I asked, "Where's an ATM?" He drove me up a couple gates and told me to run into the terminal. It should be there. It wasn't. I looked and asked a worker at the airport and they said there was one half-way back in the direction we had just driven. So I ran out the door and down several gates and finally found the ATM. I went to the cab and gave him $25 and he gave me his card and his cell phone number so I could call to confirm that he had returned the keys. It seemed like a nice gesture but I knew if he was going to take the keys and rental car he probably wouldn't give me his correct cell phone number. I handed him the keys, thanked him and felt like I was putting my faith in the goodness of humanity. I went into the airport, through security and sat on the plane. It had been about 10 minutes and the airplane hadn't pushed away from the gate yet so I decided to call the car rental agency to see if someone had retuned the car keys. The man at the rental agency said, "No, I haven't seen anyone." I knew it had only been 10 minutes so there was a chance he hadn't arrived. Just then the car rental agent said, "Wait, there's someone walking up now." I heard him talking with someone and he came back on the phone and said, "Yep, they're here." I then called the cab driver's cell phone and he answered. I felt a little ashamed that I hadn't fully trusted him. I wondered if he'd feel hurt that I hadn't called him first. I simply thanked him for all of his help and said I really, really appreciate it. Was I foolish for doing it in the first place? It turned out okay so perhaps I was foolish to think he wouldn't have done exactly as I asked. I don't know that there is a right answer to these questions in general but think there's an intuitive sense we get as to whether something seems like the right or the wrong decision. I felt like asking this cab driver to return these car keys was the right decision and I was willing to trust this intuition to the tune of $20,000 or the replacement cost of that rental car.

  Reply

  • December 9, 2009 by Jeff Herman

    Many years ago I was driving down an off ramp from the freeway on my way home. There was a young woman there on the corner asking for help. She told me she needed money for diapers and formula for her baby. She didn't have a baby with her but my instincts told me she was sincere. I handed her $100 and she almost broke into tears. There was a Kroger close to there and I stopped in to pick up some things on the way home. It never crossed my mind she would come to this store, but as I was walking out I saw her in the baby isle looking at diapers. She never saw me and I walked away with a smile, knowing that I had the faith to trust a stranger.

    Reply

    • December 26, 2009 by Anne

      You're a good man, Jeff. Please keep the faith...

• October 9, 2009 by aok

  You did the right thing, Your concious you must always trust. That is YOUR pshyche; therefore, it's part of you. When we give up listening to ourselves, and trusting whom we have truly grown to become (i.e. oneslf), then we as a people are in trouble. With the right upbringing, i.e., incorporation of principles and a morale fiber which honors and respects human life, then we will, that individuals such as yourself, haven.t given up on society, i.e., having lost their faith, this is the morale fabric that holds together a trusting society, i.e. humanity. There's an old saying: 'Keep the faith', it was big post hippy movement in the US, but the solgan still applies today: KEEP THE FAITH (i.e., in the human race). John Malvoe lost his faith in mankind, and we all say what he resorted to. Total absolute destruction.

  Reply

• February 17, 2010 by Judy Bell

  I lost a gold charm in of all places, and antique/2nd hand store. I looked all over the store. I was broken hearted. The charm was a gift from a high school softball team that the team gave me after we won a title game. I stopped back in the shop over a 6 month period. Everytime I ask, I got the same answer. No, but check back by. One day on my way home from school, I stopped by and they said that a charm was found and if I could I identify it, the dealer would return it to me. She would not accept a penny of the reward money. She said that my smile was worth it all!

  Reply

Tell us what you think.