Four Remarkable True-to-life Tales of Human Honesty

With the perennial trend where economic adversities continue to plague most of the world and the human tendency to break their character of honesty, anyone would find it hard to resist acquiring thousands of dollar even at the expense of their integrity. The world was nevertheless grateful to the following people who have shown that the world was still a better place to live in by showing unusual deeds that required extra strength of character. Three of them were taxi drivers and a female security guard.

1. 
   

   Emilio Advincula

   Emilio Advincula, a taxi driver from a slum suburb of Manila, Philippines did something truly remarkable. In 1996, a wealthy passenger left cash and belongings of jewelries in Advincula’s taxi cab. All in all, Advincula could have went into hiding with around 3.4 million in his pocket and his family would have been extricated in no time from the everyday agony of poverty that was prevalent in Philippine society. But he chose to be honest in a circumstance that millions would have refused. He went after his passenger and returned all his finds intact; no more no less. To the incomparable delight of the rich woman, she took a parcel of the returned money for a much deserved reward for the honest cab driver. Advincula once again refused. For his unconditional honesty though, the Philippine government insured the entire education of his then elementary school children through college and purchased him a brand new cab; all his own, sparing him from the high price of cab rentals that he had been doing and suffering for years.

2. Osman Chowdhury

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   Osman Chowdhury, who had been residing and driving in New York for quite a decade never thought of grabbing a set of expensive variables left in his cab by one of his passengers. “Those were not mine”, said this honest man from the predominantly poor country of Bangladesh when he was besieged with skeptical queries from both local and international media.

3. Maria Fe Sotelo

   In January 7, 2003, a Chinese businessman accidentally left his bag containing P500,000.00 ( more than $ 11,000.00) at the comfort room of a mall in Manila. Maria Fe Sotelo, the security guard on duty found the bag, but as she was claiming, she did not hesitate returning the money. The grateful businessman, tried to reward the lady with an immediate cash but she politely declined. Fortunately, her showing of exemplary honesty earned her the fulfillment of her fondest dream of becoming a police officer when the Philippine National Police waived its height and age requirements just for her.

4. Nestor Sulpicio

   Nestor Sulpicio earned the distinction of being “ New York City’s most honest taxi driver” in 2004 for returning some $75,000.00 worth of black pearl left in his cab by his passenger named Lawrence Policastro. Sulpicio a nursing student at the same time, accepted nevertheless a fund of $5000.00 raised by the grateful Policastro to finance the former’s remaining years in college. Unfortunately, he did not live to finish his studies due to colon cancer but was posthumously awarded with an honorary degree by the Manhattan based Philips Beth Israel School of Nursing.

We can only hope there are more like them in the many corners of the world with overflowing reserve of unconditional honesty for their own greater good, their fellow men and the human race.