Be Honest!

CEBU, Philippines — “Where did you get all that money?” Mike asked his seatmate Rodil, who was holding two five-hundred-peso bills. “I found them on the stairs. No one else was there so I took them so I could give them to the office later.” Rodil answered.   “Can we just turnover one of them? We can split the other P500 and buy toys. We can also buy some food to share with our classmates!” Mike tried to convince his friend, but before Rodil could answer, their class adviser Mrs.Magadapa came in and played a video that they needed to summarize.

When the bell rang, Rodil was getting ready to leave when he discovered that the money was gone. He placed it in the outer pocket of his bag before the class started. He wanted to turn it over during recess. “Give it back, Mike!” He pulled his friend to the side and demanded that he return the money immediately. “Give what back?” For some reason, Mike seemed startled, but understood what he meant. “I don’t have it. You think I took it?” He answered.  “Of course, you took the money. You wanted to have it for yourself. “, Rodil was almost in tears when he said this. “I know what I told you, but I realized I was wrong. Spending that money would be like stealing, so no, I don’t have it. I did not take it. Stealing is bad.” Mike reasoned out.

Some classmates overheard them talking and started to gather around them. The next teacher, Ms. Ann, noticed this and asked them what the problem was. Both boys burst into tears. Rodil didn’t know what to do. He was so convinced that Mike took the money. Mike was so scared that he would be reprimanded or worse, his parents might be asked to come for a conference.

“Teacher! Look, I found some money! They were under Rodil’s chair.” Ina, the girl sitting behind the two boys exclaimed and gave the bills to Ms. Ann. “Thank you, Ina. You are very kind to turn this over.” “Boys, is this you’ve been looking for?” She asked both of them. They nodded, looked at Ina and said “Thank you.”

“I’m so sorry, Mike for doubting you.” Rodil hugged Mike. “It’s my fault. It was bad to think the way I did. I know we should never take anything that doesn’t belong to us. I’m sorry, too.” Mike hugged him back.

Ms. Ann smiled and patted both their shoulders. She pointed to the wall and all the pupils read the saying “Honesty is the best policy.”