Honest cabbies restore faith in humanity

Some years ago, I lost a laptop computer at a grocery store. I had placed it in a shopping cart while buying groceries and absentmindedly left it there when I unloaded the cart. I realised my mistake at home and rushed back to the store, but my laptop had disappeared. I put up signs offering a reward, but got no responses, much to my dismay.

- Melvin Durai

Meanwhile, someone else went to the grocery store and came home with a laptop. It was their lucky day. Even on Christmas Day, Santa is not so generous. Did they spare a thought for the rightful owner? Perhaps they did, saying to themselves, “What an idiot! He didn’t protect his laptop with a password.”

One person’s misery is another person’s joy. But to be joyful about claiming a lost item for yourself, you can’t think about the other person. You can’t put yourself in their shoes, except if it’s shoes that they've lost.

Thankfully, there are many people in the world who just can’t live like that. They return the laptop. They return the cellphone. They even return the Hermés bag.

Rather than taking possession of a lost item, they do the honest thing — and take pleasure in the owner’s relief and gratitude.

Who are these people? Cab drivers!