Honesty – Raul Torres

FIRST PLACE, Grades 4-6 Division, 2009
RAUL TORRES
Grade 5, Tubman Elem.
Teacher: Ms. Maria Samenga

A quality I value in myself and others is honesty. My friends and I are always honest with each other, but it wasn’t always that way. Let me tell you about a time when I wasn’t honest with my best friend Christian.

It all started one morning in 2nd grade. My friend Christian and I were in the cafeteria eating breakfast. Suddenly, Christian showed me a twenty dollar bill. “Where did you get that?” I asked him. “I saved up my allowance,” Christian answered.

It wasn’t until we were outside getting ready to leave, that I saw a twenty dollar bill on the ground. It was exactly the opportunity I needed, so I planned to grab it. The next thing I knew, I bent down and put the crisp, green bill in my pocket.

When I got on the school bus, I sat down next to Christian like I always did. “What’s up?” I asked Christian. “Well,” he began “I lost my twenty dollars when I was playing outside”. Just then, I knew it was Christian’s money I had in my pocket, but I didn’t tell him that I had it. “Wow, that’s too bad” I said quietly. “Yeah, because I was going to buy an ice cream for each of us with it,” he replied. “Oh,” I said, feeling really guilty.

The next day, I went to the mall to buy a video game. When it was almost my turn to pay, I began thinking about Christian. I started to feel really bad inside. Christian had been my best friend for a long time and I stole from him. Here I was about to buy something for myself with HIS money and all he wanted to do with the money was buy something for US. Just then, I told the cashier that I had changed my mind and I didn’t want the game after all.

I went to the ice cream store and bought two ice creams. I brought them to Christian and explained what I had done. He was happy to get his money back and I was so relieved that he wasn’t angry with me, and that he still wanted to be my friend. So, from that day on, I have always been honest with my friends. I never want to feel like I did while I was standing in that line ever again!