Is It Wrong Not To Do The Right Thing?

Only a few months ago

I was the type of man

Who would return a wallet

That I stumbled upon

While walking my dog around my block

Now

I am the type of man

Who takes that wallet

And puts it in his back pocket

And waits until the coast is clear

To look through it

And then

Pulls out the cash

Which just so happens

To be $421.00

(Not a small amount by the standards of a broke writer)

And puts it in his pocket

Without looking at the I.D. in it

I tossed it in some bushes

And didn’t look back.

From one type of man

To a completely different kind

And I am not sure

How or why the change happened

Especially

When

I still

Feel

Like

The same

Person.

Truthfully

It just didn’t feel like stealing.

It felt like finding.

And not returning.

This sparked the question I had to ask myself,

‘Is it wrong not to do the right thing–

Especially when the ‘right thing’

Is so obvious?’

-C.H.