Today, honesty is a virtue lost on many.
We have politicians who refuse to accept responsibility despite being caught with their hand in the cookie jar (read committing corruption) and people holding high office breaking every rule in the book, using their influence to get away with every evil deed.
And then, we have a person like Aunty Paruvathy.
Who is this woman, you may ask. Here’s a rundown.
The 58-year-old is part of housekeeping staff at the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park. She has worked there for 20 years.
On Wednesday afternoon, while carrying out her routine duties at the theme park’s tiger’s cage, she stumbled across an unattended bag.
She picked it up and without a second thought, surrendered it to security personnel.
It turns out the bag was accidentally left behind by a Saudi family, who later returned to collect it. Inside the bag were three passports, and close to RM10,000 – both in ringgit and Saudi Riyal denominations.
Paruvathy’s honesty was praised by the park management, who snapped a picture of her along with the recovered items and posted it on their official Facebook page.
The post has since gone viral, with more than 4,400 likes and over 3,000 shares at the time this article was written. Netizens unanimously heaped praise on her, noting her amazing gesture.
And rightfully so.
If she wanted, Paruvathy could have checked the contents of the bag and pocketed the money instead of surrendering it as she did. The money in there was probably worth close to, if not more than her annual salary.
Paruvathy is a shining example that one does not need to be highly educated or to hold high positions in office that pays five- or six-figure salaries, to have integrity and honesty.
She saw something that did not belong to her, and she surrendered it as only one with integrity and honesty would.
For that, she has become an overnight Internet celebrity with several media outlets already lining-up interviews with her.
Let’s hope Paruvathy’s superiors give her due recognition for her good deed and award her with a token befitting her honesty.
Needless to say, this country could do with a few more Paruvathys today.