Do The Right Thing

My husband came in with the mail in his hand after being gone this morning. "Someone knocked our mailbox over" he announced. I was shocked, I had been outside with Hannes only about an hour earlier and I knew the mailbox was standing upright at that time. "Did you see anything?" he asked. The only thing I could recall was seeing a substitute mail carrier (different car) go down our next door neighbor's driveway just after I had been outside. I wondered if the mail carrier had struck our mailbox while backing out from the neighbor's driveway. I thought it was strange though; if that were the case, wouldn't they have come to the door to report it? My husband then told me that another neighbor was out walking when he drove in; she told him that the mail carrier had been driving erratically and almost hit her husband's car. This fact helped cement our suspicions, but still, we hadn't actually seen this happen. My husband phoned the post office and asked if they would inquire about this incident of the carrier, they agreed that they would. Half an hour later the doorbell rang. It was the carrier, filling in for our regular mail lady this weekend. "Yes", she admitted, "I hit your mailbox and knocked it down." She offered to pay for the damages. There aren't any damages with a cost value to speak of, it's a case of repairing the post and standing it back up; this is a matter of principle... and character. When our children were growing up we taught them to do the right thing. "If you break something, confess right away, don't wait until you get caught to set things straight", we admonished. I am happy that our mail carrier did come back and ring the doorbell, but not that she waited until after we reported it to ask for forgiveness. Sadly, the high road seems to be the one less traveled anymore. The one final question I have is this one: did she put today's mail in our box before or after it was lying on the ground?  I'm disappointed, I'll bet her mother would be too.

Life is Good!