They say the true mark of integrity is how you behave when no one is watching.
If you found a million dollars in cash in the middle of the road, what would you do? For the Schantz family of Colonial Forge, Virginia, the answer to that question was simple: “Do the right thing and return it because it doesn’t belong to us.”
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Emily and David Schantz were driving through Caroline County with their two young sons when the car in front of them swerved to avoid hitting something in the middle of the road.
They didn’t have time to get out of the way and ended up hitting the object. Worried, they quickly pulled over to see what happened and found two bags, which they guessed were full of trash. Wanting to throw them out, they threw them in the trunk and continued on their way.
When they finally stopped long enough to look inside, they couldn’t believe their eyes. They had driven for hours without ever realizing they had nearly $1 million in the back of their car!
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Inside each bag were several envelopes full of money. We can only imagine what was going through Emily and David’s minds as they pulled out seemingly endless wads of cash, but they knew their young children were watching their every move.
So they called the Caroline County Police and turned the money in. That’s when they realized the postal service had probably accidentally dropped the bags while delivering funds to a local bank. Regardless, the family’s stunning gesture is bringing them respect and praise from their entire community.
“For someone so honest and willing to give that almost a million dollars back – it’s exceptional on their part,” Major Scott Moser said. “Their two sons were there, so I put the lights on for them, but we are proud that they represented this county well by being so honest.”
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This is what true integrity looks like! These kids learned a valuable lesson from their parents, and now we can benefit from their wisdom too.
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