Talk the Talk or Walk the Walk?

"It's always the right time to do the right thing"

Those that know me or have ever communicated with me, may recognise the statement above from the signature line on my emails.  But it's far easier to "talk the talk", than it is to "walk the walk" and I've been tested of this twice in as many days.

You could buy a LifeStraw
for just $25:00.
See the LifeStraw page on this blog

Yesterday saw a donation for a LifeStraw come from a most unexpected source.  It would much be easier to pretend this thoughtful act hadn't happened.  But would that have been the right thing to do?  I don't think so.

So, to the donor who contacted me via email to tell me they had deposited money into my account for a LifeStraw, I thank you.  I promise that a child on the Gioto Garbage Slum will receive this life saving gift on behalf of yourself and your daughter. And be confident you will have made a positive difference in the life of a child this Christmas. 

And today saw another test of my "do the right thing" mantra.

This morning I headed into the city to the Travel Doctor for round two of my vaccinations, nothing too dramatic as needles don't bother me and every injection is one step closer to the goal. This was followed by a good chat with somebody I've recently come to know, who is also showing great support of the LifeStraw initiative.  My morning was rounded off quite nicely by lunch with one of my closest friends, we ate great food, talked, laughed and generally just had a good catch up on life.... and as we hugged goodbye and went our separate ways I rounded the corner only to be confronted with a money machine with a bundle of green notes poking out of it, and nobody in sight (well as empty as Broadway can be at 1:00pm on a Monday in the school holidays)  

What to do....??????  Well I'm not proud to say, as I walked by, I discreetly plucked the money from the machine and kept on walking.... and as I ducked into the first shop with my hand in my pocket, I felt as guilty as sin.

That little voice in my head was in shock......, 

"OH MY GOSH...what did you just do?, that's not yours, you can't take that....." 

All the while, the other little voice was saying 

"power bill is due today, oooh that could buy 4 LifeStraws, you know you haven't bought groceries for dinner yet"

I crossed the road, and walked up the escalator of a nearby shopping mall, all the while white noise buzzing in my ears... and that sick in the pit of my stomach feeling was growing by the second.  Bang then it hit me....I can't do this, I can't keep telling people to do the right thing, and not live by the same rules.  So as I stepped off the up escalator I immediately stepped onto the down one, I crossed back over the road, and entered into the quiet, church like confines of Westpac on Broadway and handed the those five crisp green twenty dollar notes to the teller and explained that somebody had left their $100 in the machine outside.


Her response... "Oh okay, thanks..."
I was a little deflated, but really, what did I expect a ticker tape parade and a heros homecoming?  In the couple of hours that have since passed I've convinced myself, that it was a little old lady getting out her money for groceries and her grandchildren's treats, and that by now she has gone back to the bank to see if it's been handed in... That scenario far easier to accept than, it's just been sucked back into the coffers of the Westpac tellers drawer.

It is always the right time to do the right thing, 

but sometimes it's not always easy...

Asante
Jacq