According to Martin Luther King Jr., "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism, or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."
Warre Vanhee, from Bruges, has emphatically chosen the former option. The 22-year-old recently found a wallet on the street containing €320 in cash — and immediately decided to try his utmost to return it to its rightful owner.
"I just think it's normal for you to give something you've found back," Warre told VRT Nieuws. "And personally, I prefer to do that. Then you are sure that it will end well and you also have a good feeling about it. I know what it's like to lose your wallet. It happened to me once two days before I was going to leave on a trip. You can guess how happy I was when I got the message that someone had found it."
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Using information gleaned from the wallet's contents, Warre was eventually able to track down its owner through social media channels. After his initial message went unnoticed for two days, he contacted the owner's daughter. Shortly afterwards the wallet was successfully returned – and the delighted owner promptly gave Warre a €100 reward for his troubles.
"I think it's special," the owner said. "Most would take the money out of my wallet and, in the best case scenario, bring it to the police or dump it in a place where it can easily be found again. For someone who is so honest and who makes such an effort, a reward is definitely fitting."
