A moral question: did I do the right thing?

Question

Last night I found a purse in a bar. I checked for any ID but there was none, only £30 in cash. I asked around for a while and nobody claimed it. I was going to hand it into the bar staff when I thought maybe they would take the money for themselves.
I figured the owner would only spend the money on drink, if she even found her purse. I took the £30 and I donated it to a charity helping provide clean water to vilages in developing countries. I know that stealing is wrong but to me, people living without food and water is alot worse. Do you think I did a bad thing?

OK, for one thing- why would I bother posing this question if the charity donation was a lie?
I wasn't in the bar drinking, I was waiting for my friend.
I donate 10% of my wages to charity.
I've lost alot of my own purses with money in and never expected them to be returned (they weren't) but I consoled myself with the fact that at least someone has just found themselves a bunch of money.
By the way I left the purse where I found it in case she came back.

Answer 1

While a nice jesture, this was not your money to give away. It should have been turned into the police or the bar staff.

Answer 2

Not necessarily a bad thing, maybe more misguided. As has already been said, it wasn't your money to give away and it wasn't your place to assume that the owner of the purse would have just spent the money on drink - it could have been for anything. I lost my purse in a bar once with a fair chunk of my weekly benefit in it, but I don't even drink - I did get the purse back but someone had taken the money.

That said, at least you did a good thing with the money that will help people, so don't feel bad about it. If it ever happens again though, I'd suggest doing more to get the money back to its rightful owner, like taking the purse to the police.

Answer 3

1. Legally the money was not your to distribute, it should have been handed in for the owner to claim. If the owner did not claim it within the proscribed time period then it would become yours and you then could have given it to charity.

2. Sadly the owner returned to the bar as the £30.00 was all they had and they were trying to get to their dying mother bed-side. As a result the mother died alone, and in a fit of remorse the owner of the purse threw themselves under a train.

3. The owner of the purse was a nun, who working with the homeless had received the money as donations to help people. Having lost the money, hard earned and given by those that could not afford it she is spending a week is self flagellation.

Stop being better than everybody else, trust the people around you to judge what is right and how to dispose of their income. You stole and you judged your fellow man.

However most of us would have used it to get drunk or have a kebab on the way home, so you did pretty well. :-)

Answer 4

I'd have handed it in to the bar and hoped that they did not take the money for themselves. I think it is quite likely that the owner of the purse would come back and ask if anyone had turned it in. Whether she would have spent the money on drink or not is not really any of your business. It's good of you to give money to charity, but that money wasn't yours to give. Plus there's still the question of the purse. You didn't say what happened to it. I imagine you still have it. You can still make this right, if you want to... just put £30 back in the purse and turn it in at the bar, or at the local police station if you don't trust the people at the bar.

Answer 5

I think it was a good thing cos your intentions were good. But i think you should have handed in to a police station cos it wasnt your money to spend. If it isnt too much hardship for you maybe you could give £30 of your own money to the bar/police station and tell them some1 left it behind (im not sure if you still have the purse). That way you gave to charity and didnt take any1's money. If it will cause too much hardship forget about it cos you still did a good thing under the circumstances. If only we had more people like you the world would be a paradise.

Answer 6

you did wrong thing. I know you havent given to the charity or ****. Even this incedent is your imagination. Am I right? If the story is right, why did you end up with a conclusion that "I figured the owner would only spend the money on drink, if she even found her purse"... ? You went to the bar for drinking too. If at all you find a purse, you could have booze with the money and never tell anyone.

Answer 7

You ask--we answer---darllin' --you assume too much here---first of all this was not your money--the place where you found it was the proper place and the proper people to have charge of this no matter what their actions would have been--that would have been THEIR thing to answer for--but it would have been at least one of the places that the proper owner would have inquired at once the loss was realized ---the giving this money to a charity thing sounds alot like a justification move on your part---thing is--it wasn't your's to do that with---and so---not justification here-----how would you feel if someday you came home and found your very favorite thing had been taken---and then later the police find that whoever it was that took it donated it to charity---now--feel better about the loss ??? Think not---Don't get me wrong here I'm not coming down on you--it would be a delimea for alot of folks and I don't think your going to hell over it (like one person said earlier) but think it through---you ask---we answer

Answer 8

A difficult question this .... if you lost that purse in that bar, your first thought would be to contact them and ask if it had been found. Of course you wouldn't expect it to be handed in but if it had you would have been very grateful. On the other side, £30 is no great loss to the average bar-goer and traditional values simply don't exist like they used to. But, you have done what you have done, your intentions/actions are certainly not dishonourable and if no one else knows about it, I think you can quite easily lay the matter to rest in your mind. It was interesting in your question that you had doubts about the integrity of other people here ..... perhaps that is a sad sign of the times. NO ... you didn't do a bad thing.

Answer 9

Yes, what you did was wrong because you took the money - what you did with the money after stealing it is irrelevant I'm afraid. You should have handed the purse in. If someone else stole the money after you had handed it in, that would be their karma that they would have to live with. What you have created now, is your karma.

You obviously feel guilty about it now or you wouldn't have posted this question. - That's actually a good sign, you know you have done wrong and probably wont do anything like that again. Remorse it good.

Answer 10

No not a bad thing but how do you know what the owner would have spent the money on? May gas for their car? maybe it was all they had until the next payday? I think you should have waited a bit longer to see if you could find the owner and if you give to charity with someone else's money then YOU are NOT giving to charity but they are

Answer 11

LOL what a load of crock. You did no such thing you stinking liar. You pocketed the money and tossed the purse in the trash. Moral my butt. Take your own money and donate it. Also you're a hypocrite. So what if she was spending it on drinking. Weren't you there for the same purpose? Maybe she needed the money for groceries later and some guy was there buying her drinks. Ever take that into consideration?

What you did was selfish and arrogant.