Would You Give Up $30k For Good Karma? This Woman Would

Have you ever found a quarter on the street and kept it because it’s like finding a magical street parking token, or because it’ll help you pay for that McFlurry later? Me, too. I feel like playing finders keepers with small bills has little impact on my karmic outcome. But what about bigger sums? What if I found $50 or $500 or $5,000? Carol Sutor found $30,000, and she returned all of it to the family it belonged to.

Sutor received a pile of clothes from her cousin, who was passing them on to Sutor’s mother. In that pile, she also received bank envelopes containing $30,000 in cash. The clothes, and the money, had belonged to a deceased relative of Sutor’s cousin. Not a big believer in finders keepers, Sutor returned the cash to her cousin.

Guys, I need to be honest with you. I like to think of myself as a pretty morally upstanding person, but if I was holding $30,000 in cash, it would be really hard to turn it in. Like, really hard. I’d also like to tell you that if I kept it, I’d do good with it, like donate it or save homeless cats. But after I gave some to my family and paid down my student loans, I would probably go on vacation and buy a bunch of shoes. You know, responsible stuff.

Sutor has been struggling in the economy, and things have been tight. $30k would definitely help her out (can’t think of many people who would turn that down), but even when faced with financial trouble, she turned it in, which I think is pretty cool. Her cousin did give her $1,000 for her honesty.

“I had to give it back. I believe in karma, whatever I do will come back to me, good or bad.” –Carol Sutor

It’s admirable. It’s unbelievable. It’s nice to know that there are people who choose to do the right thing, simply because it’s the right thing to do. She didn’t return this money to be on the news, or so we could write articles about how much we admire her. She did it just because it’s what was right. Plain and simple. What a nice thought.

What would you do if you found $30,000 in cash? It’s such a large, life-changing amount of money, it’s not something to take lightly. It’s not a few dollars you can spend on a sandwich and just forget about. It’s a real, IRS-eyebrow-raising stack of bills. What would you do if you found it?

Featured image via The Huffington Post