Recently, I did my round of errands in Auburn, ending with groceries. Reaching home, I was shocked and dismayed to realize my pocketbook was missing.

I called the grocery store. People there did a complete search of the area with no results.

So began the calls to credit cards, to Social Security, the bank … a time-consuming process since the list of numbers for reporting lost cards was in my lost pocketbook.

My husband drove me to a bank to close my checking account and open a new one. Returning home, I was beyond stress.

I walked in to hear a telephone message that a man had found my pocketbook, and for me to call him.

We arranged a meeting and he gave me back my pocketbook. As I attempted to thank him, his response was, “I’m a veteran. I had to go back to work because I couldn’t get by on Social Security. I just believe that what’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong.”

I am compelled to compare that example of moral integrity with that of so many corporate CEOs, awash in a sea of self-serving greed, who have endangered the nation’s whole economic system and individuals’ financial security with their irresponsible and unacceptable management practices.

“What’s right is right” – a credo to live by.

I feel blessed to have met such a man. He, and others like him, are the people who enrich our lives, inspire us, and give us hope.

Katharine J. McNear, Leeds