Here & There Column 5-8-12

 Honesty Is Still Alive

  Is honesty a real part of your life?

  Many folks would say that honesty was instilled into their psyche as a child.

  Mom was always a righteous person, had a good religious background and a definite moral compass that she passed along to family members by her words, deeds and examples. 

  Some in our society today don't get it when it comes to truth, justice and what is right.

  The problem has always been the truth, if told, can often hurt people unnecessarily. There are some things that need not be told to protect someone from pain.

  As a long time photo-journalism columnist I have taken the belief that what I convey to people is real and not tainted by ulterior motives or lesser truth as being aware of one's ego and motives is a useful tool in determining the reasons behinds one's actions.

  You see, what honesty is, is often not obvious and needs some understanding. I think kindness is a consideration when answering a leading question. There is a give and take in all relationships and being honest can only improve your entire lifestyle. 

  A trend in society today seems to show a general lack of trust and honesty many times is imbued in our attitudes and this is all because we have chosen to be dishonest with our true feelings.

  Honesty is the best policy and over the weekend of April 28-29 while traveling upstate to the NYS Elks Bowling Tournament, then visiting friends Sunday in Binghamton and shopping at the Johnson City Wegmans Supermarket we arrived home and several hours later learned what real honesty consists of.

  After unpacking our clothes, putting away items you take on a trip, doing some laundry and putting the items away we purchased at Wegmans I asked my wife what was the brand name of one of the products we bought at Wegmans.

  My wife paused and said that she did not remember putting that item away while unpacking the groceries. We looked around the house, searched the car and then my wife recalled that she thought she heard something fall and hit the ground when she was putting the groceries into the back seat of the car at the  supermarket parking lot but since she did not see anything laying on the ground by the car she closed the car door and we left the parking lot. 

  Being that the item we could not locate was valued close to the $20 range I called Wegmans to just ask if possibly the clerk set this item aside and did not put it into our shopping bags.

  The customer service clerk replied back to me, Mr. Townsend you just are not going to believe this," and went on to say, "the item you are inquiring about apparently dropped out of your shopping bag in the parking lot and it was picked up by one of our customers and brought back into the store." 

  Well, I almost fell off the chair I was sitting in as the customer service representative told me all we had to do is bring in the receipt showing the item and that they had it recorded in their computer system and anytime I was in the store I could pick up the same item without any charge. 

  Now go ahead and figure this one .... I can truthfully say that honesty is still alive in today's society.