Let it be known now: I am a very careless person. I have had my Kindles and iPods stolen, and my money misplaced. Just recently, I had lost my wallet, but for once, not permanently. I lost it on a sidewalk, unbeknownst to me. A day later, the school contacted me to tell me my wallet has been found, and a short day later it was back in my hands.

I expected it to be stripped of all money-items, to be bare when it was returned, and yet this was not the case. My debit card, my 16 dollars and some-odd change, and even my IDs were all still in place. The returner hadn’t taken anything, except a lot of gratitude from me. I’ve had wallets taken and never to be seen again, so I’m still reeling that I got it back intact.

But I have to ask myself – why would I expect to get it back? Lately, I do not expect anyone in this society to be even slightly generous. In my mind, if a human today had found a juicy wallet filled with all sorts of goodies, they would take the opportunity to snatch it while they could. I mean, hey, free money. I would even consider taking the money, not gonna lie.

I’m genuinely shocked. Society has become nothing less than selfish, and while there are good eggs out there, most people would be inclined to take the things that benefit them. I’m not saying that I’m happy about this societally decline, but it’s true. There are more ill-intentioned people out there than there is good.

Don’t let this rub you the wrong way. I’m not trying to say everyone is evil, because it’s obviously not true. But let me give you more food for thought: The only reason I probably wouldn’t have taken anything and tried to return the wallet is because I believe karma would come back and reward me. See? Selfish.

And maybe this way of thinking would need to stop for our society to better itself. Maybe we should return the lost iPhones and stolen wallets just because it would be nice to. It’s hard to stop looking for the reward in life, and instead do things just simply because it might make someones day a little brighter. If we pass down generosity to another human, they might do the same. So really, it all relies on us.