Homeless Man's Honest act rewarded with 16k and counting!

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**KalashnikovMarine**

http://news.yahoo.com/homeless-man-honest-deed-rewarded-16k-donation-counting-172200491.html

A homeless man in Kansas City, Mo., made national headlines more than a week ago when he returned a valuable platinum and diamond engagement ring accidentally dropped into his cup of change by a woman offering some extra cash. Now, hundreds of donors have contributed more than $16,000 to a page on GiveForward.com to help Billy Ray Harris get his life back on track. The man's rewards don't stop with financial help -- the media story helped him connect with a brother in Lubbock, Texas, he hasn't seen in nearly 30 years.

KCTV first did a story on the unintended donation Feb. 9. Sarah Darling had put her engagement ring in her change purse because it was bothering her finger. A chance encounter with Harris on the street led Darling to give the man her loose change. It was only a day later that she realized her engagement ring was missing. When she came back to Harris on the same street, he still had the ring and gave it back to her.

The New York Daily News reveals when the woman and her husband returned, they gave the homeless man all the cash she had on her -- around $40 to $60. Then Bill Krejci, who is a web designer, was inspired by some media outlets' websites where people asked how they could help. Enter GiveForward.com.

For the next 90 days, anyone can donate money for Harris. The homeless man cited his reverend grandfather, who raised him since he was 6 months old, as the reason for his character trait that returned the ring to the woman. Individual donations from as little as $5 up to $500 have poured into GiveForward.com for Harris.

**Blackskullandy**

This is the nicest thing I've read this year. Restores a little of the shine to my tarnished faith in humanity...

**AtariAssasin**

Am I missing something? Maybe I'm jaded but it doesn't seem like he went out of his way to give her back the ring... he didn't give it to her when they walked away, and he didn't try to find her right? So it would seem very possible to me that he just hadn't sold it yet?

**Avatar 720**

AtariAssasin wrote:
Am I missing something? Maybe I'm jaded but it doesn't seem like he went out of his way to give her back the ring... he didn't give it to her when they walked away, and he didn't try to find her right? So it would seem very possible to me that he just hadn't sold it yet?

It's very likely he didn't check what she'd put in until later, or until she was far out his way. Homeless people really have to stay put, otherwise they risk losing their spot and/or what few possessions they have left, so chasing after her would've been very risky. Even if he did mean to sell it at some later date, how many people would own up to having it in the first place? I know that a good few people who aren't homeless would swear blind to never having seen it in their lives, so a homeless person who says "Yes, here you are." is probably going as far out of his way as he can without risking making his life even worse.

**AtariAssasin**

Okay, valid points. But does it really make you a good person if you give somebody something back when they're in your face? He just didn't lie, and then maybe the people go to the cops and force him to give it back, so he figured he couldn't lie anymore? I'm not saying it wasn't the honorable or right thing to do, but is it worth such praise? If he had done something more than simply turning it over when confronted I'd be all for it, but as is I'm not so sure.

Addendum- I used to work at a theater, and when i found a wallet, not to mention expensive smart phones, which was pretty common, the first thing I did was look for a number, and call the person, and failing that leave it at the front desk. I rarely got anything more than a cursory thanks.

**Alfndrate**

AtariAssasin wrote:
Okay, valid points. But does it really make you a good person if you give somebody something back when they're in your face? He just didn't lie, and then maybe the people go to the cops and force him to give it back, so he figured he couldn't lie anymore? I'm not saying it wasn't the honorable or right thing to do, but is it worth such praise? If he had done something more than simply turning it over when confronted I'd be all for it, but as is I'm not so sure.

Addendum- I used to work at a theater, and when i found a wallet, not to mention expensive smart phones, which was pretty common, the first thing I did was look for a number, and call the person, and failing that leave it at the front desk. I rarely got anything more than a cursory thanks.

Probably because you're not a destitute homeless man, who might try to get some cold hard cash by selling that ring. You were probably a teenager or college aged student, and returning phones and wallets was probably a part of your job. Also if you had sold such things or tried to claim them for your own... probably could have gotten hit with theft. Which for you is bad... but for a homeless man? That's 3 hots and a cot baby...

The idea of it being worth such praise comes from the fact that people with far more than a homeless man might have kept the ring, or tried to sell it. This man, regardless of his intentions, gave the ring back to it's owner instead of profiting off of that person's bad luck.

And here is a quote to back up what I said:

One comment from the Young family, who donated $250, said, "This story was on CNN and it was touching that someone with so little was so thoughtful and understanding. ... This was a unique opportunity to celebrate a good news story and act of kindness."

**Avatar 720**

AtariAssasin wrote:
Okay, valid points. But does it really make you a good person if you give somebody something back when they're in your face? He just didn't lie, and then maybe the people go to the cops and force him to give it back, so he figured he couldn't lie anymore? I'm not saying it wasn't the honorable or right thing to do, but is it worth such praise? If he had done something more than simply turning it over when confronted I'd be all for it, but as is I'm not so sure.

Addendum- I used to work at a theater, and when i found a wallet, not to mention expensive smart phones, which was pretty common, the first thing I did was look for a number, and call the person, and failing that leave it at the front desk. I rarely got anything more than a cursory thanks.

I think you're applying the logic of a person in a stable (or stable enough) to someone who is clearly in a desperate situation.

It is expected of regular Joe Bloggs to pick up a wallet and make an effort to return it, but it is expected of a homeless person to raid it. It is expected of a regular person to hand in missing items, whereas a homeless person would be expected to keep it and sell it.

I'm not saying that everyone does what is expected of them because that would be a lie, but just like we'd be picked out and accused of wrongdoing if we saw someone drop an iPhone and we kept it, a homeless person who returned an expensive item would similarly be picked out, but for praise instead of punishment. We simply don't expect these sort of actions from people that we've probably got labelled as criminals or persons of questionable morality.

**AtariAssasin**

Edit- Nevermind, easier to drop it.

**Alfndrate**

What's right becomes a totally different situation when you can't hold down a job for some reason (usually mental health related), you don't know where you're going to sleep, or if you're going to eat, and how long it will be until you eat after that... This guy could have eaten like a king with that ring, and while we would have arrested him and sent him to jail for attempting to do so, he probably wouldn't have cared since he was selling it so he could survive. BUT he didn't, so that's why this story is of a note.

**insaniak**

Avatar 720 wrote:
It's very likely he didn't check what she'd put in until later, or until she was far out his way.

He also would have had no particular reason to believe that she hadn't put it in there on purpose until she came back...

**Lordhat**

insaniak wrote:
Avatar 720 wrote:
It's very likely he didn't check what she'd put in until later, or until she was far out his way.

He also would have had no particular reason to believe that she hadn't put it in there on purpose until she came back...

Having been homeless, I can tell you that there's plenty of "reason to believe that she hadn't put it in there on purpose". Jewelry is a very suspect 'donation' for a change cup. Now whether he believed it was costume jewelry or not, we'll never know; that would have been my first assumption, and I think she's very lucky he didn't just toss it in the trash or trade it to a drug dealer for a nickel rock/bag. As for the whole reverend grandfather statement, most bums could give spin lessons to politicians. The only mark in favor of his actions being truly altruistic is the fact that he didn't try to extort her once he found out that the ring actually some value, even if it was only sentimental. I've known quite a few persons who would have said "sure I got it, how about twenty bucks?"

On the whole I'm glad everything worked out as it did. A woman has her ring back, and a guy is being rewarded for doing the right thing.

**Piston Honda**

And all I got for returning a purse with 2 grand in it, couple of credit cards and a nice looking watch to some old lady was a plate of cookies. And I had to walk 3 miles to get to her house.

I feel cheated.

**Formosa**

You got cookies!! I'm happy with that!