Seventh Grade Research Paper

One situation in my life made me realize that doing things for my own personal gain is not always the right thing to do. In seventh grade I started thinking about other people with a less selfish outlook on life. This particular situation helped me understand the importance of doing the right thing and following the golden rule, treat others how you would want to be treated. I now live my life according to my own definition of integrity, do the right thing no matter the circumstances and understand a situation from someone else’s point of view.
In seventh grade, my friends and I were making the rounds at walmart for something to do. As we made our way through the toy aisle I noticed money on the ground and picked it up. Upon closer examination

I found it to be a ten dollar bill. My young mind surged with all the possible things I could do with ten dollars. I wanted to keep the money but then I wondered how it got where it was. I wondered if someone dropped the money and began to feel bad about taking it. Most of my friends encouraged me to keep the money and one of them said, “since we found it it’s ours. If somebody is careless enough to drop money we can take it.” Another said, “it’s only ten dollars, what’s the big deal?” While I was tempted to take the money I realized something important that day: How would I feel if I lost that money? I knew someone might come back looking for their money they dropped and possible scenarios ran through my head. Maybe that ten dollars was a kid’s only birthday money to spend. Maybe that money was all someone had to buy food. I told my friends I was turning it in at the counter because it’s not about the amount of money, It’s because somebody lost that money and it does not belong to me. My friends grumbled and thought I was stupid for turning in the money, but I felt better knowing I did the right thing.
This situation helped me learn that honesty and integrity are some of the most important things in life. For me, integrity means doing the right thing no matter the circumstances and don’t always do things for purely personal benefit. We need to think about other people and how our actions affect them. I learned the life lesson of treating others how I would want to be treated. If I dropped money I wouldn’t want people to find it and just take it. If everyone acted with integrity with every situation, even small things like ten dollars, the world would be a better place.