The Junk Drawer’s Surprise

Today was a cold, wintery Saturday morning with a fresh blanket of newly fallen snow on the ground. Anne and I were sitting on a couch talking when she decided to clean a junk drawer that was in the living room. I made a silly or snarky comment about not messing up the drawer that I had so carefully developed into an award-winning junk drawer. That didn’t go over well, so Anne asked me if I would help clean it out. I resisted a bit but then I thought “what the heck” and got up and put forth some helpful energy. 


It turned out to be the right thing for me to do. I reluctantly grabbed a bunch of papers that had been sitting in the drawer for who knows how long and had never been looked at since being put there. My intent was to throw them away without looking at what was in there, and the problem with the junk drawer would be solved. As I thought about it however, I decided that might not be a good idea, so I divided the papers into two piles, one for the recycling can and the other for shredding. 


As I began separating the papers, I saw that there was a large amount of junk mail, and I wondered why I kept this stuff, which caused me to take this job more seriously and carefully. As I started going through it, I noticed an old envelope with lightly colored balls or balloons printed on it. It was folded in thirds and was bulky. Curious, I opened it up and took out a piece of paper wrapped around that soft and bulky something.


On the outside of this paper someone had written the following note, “For [a] car bump, eight years ago.” When I unwrapped this mysterious package, I found $200 in cash. To say I was surprised would be an understatement, but then I started having a deja vu moment and a small recollection of this envelope and its contents slowly began forming in my mind. 


Another message was written on the inside of the wrapping holding the cash, which gave a more detailed account about this mystery. It said, “Sorry this is taking so long to pay for [the] damage to your red car. This is [my] second payment. If I come back [on] Tuesday, could you leave a sign on [the] door of how much more I owe? Sorry again. Trying to make it right.” I should add now that neither Anne nor I had any memory of a first payment.


After reading this note I started having a few more vague memories about receiving this money several years ago. I remembered that I had been touched by the honesty and concern of this person for an incident that I had no recollection of ever happening. Then I remembered that I wrote the note this person requested and taped it on our front door thanking them and telling them that the debt was paid. No one took the note, and I don’t know if they ever read it, but it doesn’t matter.


As I sat on the couch looking at this envelope, I remembered putting it and the money into that drawer and never thinking about it again until that cold January day several years later. At the time I put it into this drawer I remembered thinking that maybe I would be able to find out who left the note and return the money or at the very least thank them. 


Obviously, this didn’t happen, but today when I found that envelope with the $200 in it, it caused me to think once again about the person who sacrificed to pay this money. I thought that they didn’t have to do this, but they did. Of course, I have no idea who it was, but on this cold January morning, years after receiving the payment, I started forming an image of that person.

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It was a vivid and positive image. I pictured someone who is kind, thoughtful, sensitive to others, not afraid to do what was right, and went out of their way to take care of a debt they thought they owed. While I was trying to picture this person, I didn’t try to put a name or face to them, but rather I was interested in those qualities that lived deep inside of them. It was these qualities that made them who they were. I formed this image based on their actions and what they had written on the notes they left.


I assumed that this person didn’t have much money and had to work hard and save up for quite a while to make this payment. I suspected that they were young and very responsible. 

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I thought that this person must have exceptional parents who taught them values that many people today would ignore and assume that they got away with something (i.e., damaging a car without getting caught). I pictured someone who was a bit embarrassed about dinging my car and felt guilty that it took so long to pay for the damage. I even thought that perhaps this person originally may not have planned on paying for it, but their conscience got the better of them and wouldn’t allow them any peace until they took care of this problem. I believe that they carried some guilt for many years (at least eight). 


Finally, this morning as I was pondering all these things I realized that this person not only worked hard to earn the money to pay for a debt they thought they owed but then they took action to solve the problem! What a great lesson for all of us to learn and follow.

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My last thoughts were of gratitude for parents who teach these principles to their children and for children who implement these positive qualities which become lifelong values. With these kinds of people living in our neighborhoods and walking our streets, this country will be ALL RIGHT!