Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.....

Over the course of the last month, I have done a lot of things in the name of helping other people----or simply "doing the right thing"---that have later come back to bite me in the behind. I've done damage to my car helping someone else (and I don't really have the money to fix it properly right now), I've lost work and most recently, I have been faced with the possibility of paying to fix someone else's misuse.

Two days ago, Connor and I went to the library. He really likes those books that come with tapes or CDs that read the story as you follow along, so we've been taking them out. Some of them are missing tapes and CDs, which I usually discover before we leave the library. But this time, I didn't notice damage to one of the CDs that came with a book until we got it home and tried to use it. When I removed the CD from the case, it was literally snapped in half. Now, CDs are pretty durable, so either someone accidentally stepped on it, or deliberately broke it in two. I can't really see any other way for that kind of damage to have happened. Being the good person I am, when I took it back to the library today, I didn't just drop it in the book drop and leave. I brought it to the attention of the person working that the CD was broken and had been that way when I took it out. And what did I get for my trouble? The warning that the book and my account would be tagged and after the circulation manager looks at it Monday, I very well may have to pay to replace the book and CD! I was not very happy and told the person working at the library that I was not happy. I could easily have dropped the book off and not said a word. But I didn't want some other poor kid to check it out, take it home and be disappointed that it was damaged the way mine had been. And this is the thanks I get for doing the right thing. Now, not only was my child upset the book didn't work, but I may end up paying for damage someone else caused. Nice.

All of these experiences are making it very hard for me to want to continue to do the right thing. But I will, because that's the kind of person I am.