The Culture of Honesty

One afternoon, Gustav, a Swede, was walking through the streets of Lagoa da Italianinha when he saw a wallet lying on the ground in the Verona Courtyard. He picked up the wallet and went looking for its owner.

At one point, Priscila, a beggar, shouted:

- It's mine!

- Yours???? - said Gustav.

- Yes, of course it's mine. You can give it to me.

Valdenes appeared and said:

- Stop lying, Priscila. This wallet belongs to Marcella.

- You're lying!

- I'm not lying at all, I saw when the wallet fell, and when I was going to pick it up to return it to Marcella, this young man found it, and I came looking for him to tell him.

Priscila said:

- You told me because you're stupid, Valdenes. If I saw a wallet like that, I'd take it, and most people would!

Gustav said:

- Well, in my country, Sweden, people are honest and if they find a pen, they want to return it to the owner."

Valdenes said:

- Wow, here, when they put a pen in a lottery shop, it disappears..."

- Take me to the owner of this wallet, please."

Valdenes took Gustav to Marcella, who was already desperate. Gustav said:

- Is this wallet yours?

- Yes, it is!"

- It fell there next to the fountain.

Marcella opened her wallet and showed him her ID. Marcella still wanted to give Gustav a reward, but he said:

- Please, don't worry. I did this because it's part of my culture; if you find something, you don't rest until you return it."

- What country are you from?"

- Sweden."

- I noticed from your accent that you're not from here."

- Yes, my father Adam is one of the partners in the new shopping mall that opened here, so we came to live here.

- I understand... it's a shame that here in Brazil, dishonesty prevails... not everyone, of course. But most people. Can you imagine, when a truck crashes on the road, people go there and loot, steal the cargo?

- But that's very sad. When a truck like that crashes there, we worry first about helping the driver.

- It would be so good if it were like that here too...

- Well, the wallet is back, I'm going now.

- Thank you so much!

Marcella returned home, happy to have recovered her wallet with the money she earned from selling her snacks.