Honesty the Rockford Way
Dear Editor,
Too often the letter section of papers is used to criticize, accuse, complain and air grievances. I too have been guilty of this and today I had an experience that, sadly, is all too uncommon.
I have been out of work for several months, and have had zero success in securing ANY type of employment. To help make ends meet, I started raising chickens for meat and to sell fresh eggs. Last week a gentleman came to my home to purchase a dozen eggs, but did not have the exact amount with him and I could not make change for him. He only had exact bills for half of the price of the eggs. Against my better judgment, I took what he had and gave him the eggs, asking him to just drop off the remainder of what he owed sometime when he was going by. I was pretty sure that I had just sold a dozen eggs at half price and would not see the rest.
On Friday, May 7, I received a call from the gentleman, asking if I had any more eggs available. I told him I did and he came by. Not only did he have the rest of the money, but instead of only one dozen, he purchased two.
It is a sad commentary on society that the first instinct is to mistrust. But for many reasons, misgivings in situations like this are neither unnatural nor unwarranted. By a large margin, the community of Rockford is one of the few places that can be done this way. Rockford should be proud of the fact that, while other towns and cities become increasingly dangerous and suffer from increased crime rates, we have a community in which we can trust each other and someone’s word is as good as a promise.
Kevin Nelson
Rockford resident
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