Honesty Exemplified, Honesty Passed On

Robert Brandt is a doctor in Pennsylvania who took his sons camping one night and by the campfire told them this story:  About a hundred years ago there was a man who worked in a stone quarry who was injured by a sliding boulder.  His foot was crushed.  He was dirt poor, and he feared losing his job for he had children in diapers and a pregnant wife.  Because he couldn't afford a horse, he had to walk everywhere; so his injured foot was a constant, throbbing trial.

A few days later, on payday, he limped to the general store for groceries, then hobbled home.  When he pulled his receipt from his pocket, he discovered that he had been given too much change.  What should he do?  As his worried wife watched from the kitchen doorway, he began limping every searing step back to the store to return the change.

After Dr. Brandt had told that story to his children, he asked them, "What do you think, guys?  Did he do the right thing?  Was that trip necessary?"

The boys quickly offered several alternatives, but after a spirited discussion they concluded that he had done the right thing.  Then the boys slid down into their sleeping bags as the fire died down.  Only then did Dr. Brandt tell them the rest of the story.

"The young father who worked in the stone quarry never became rich, but he lived a long, happy and honorable life.  Before he died, he had passed his values in honesty to his children and his grandchildren.  Even his great-grandchildren still hear about his honesty."

"Where did you hear that stone-man story anyway, Dad?" asked Roger.

"When I was just a boy about your age, I heard it from a kind old man sitting in a rocking chair with a cane between his knees.  I sat spellbound as he rocked, slowly spinning his cane as he told me that story--about himself.  He was my grandfather, and your great-grandfather!"

- Robert I. Brandt, "A Heritage of Honesty," Decision Magazine (July-August 1991)