Moses Parts the Waters of Holiday Gloom with a Selfless Act

Truth be told, this holiday season isn't very old, and yet we already need a feel-good story like this. On a weekend where we've already had a Wal-Mart worked trampled to death by a mob who couldn't wait till 6 a.m. for the doors to open, not to mention a shootout at a Toys "R" Us in Arizona, it's a breath of fresh air to read the story of Moses Baranuic, a 17-year-old Moldovan immigrant from Federal Way, Washington who found a sack containing $10,000 on the bathroom floor at the grocery store where he worked--and turned it in:

He was heading to the men's room on break, and he had no idea what treasure he'd find in there.

"As I walk in right here on the floor, I noticed a bag of money," he said.

But he had no idea yet how much money was in there

So he washed his hands, thought about it, and did the right thing.

"I just grabbed the money, walked outside and gave it to the manager," Baranuic said.

His manager was impressed.

"His name tells it all," said store manager Etray Hudson. "With a name like that you can't go wrong.... Moses."

Moses says there's something biblical about his decision to turn in the cash.

"Because I teach a Sunday school with 10-year-old kids and I always tell them to do the right thing," he said.

The guy who accidentally left the money (he was in the process of moving at the time, which is why he had it with him) came back and was extremely grateful; he took down Moses' address and said a "little reward" will be coming to him.

You may read a lot of stories about teenagers doing bad things, but--as someone who's around them on a regular basis--there are plenty of stories like this that happen all the time; it's just nice for one to actually make the news.

I'll let Moses have the last word here:

"I've always been considered a pretty good worker, so now there's even more respect. People trust me even more today, so I don't regret it because maybe I didn't get the $10,000, but I got something you can't buy with money."

You sure did, Moses. You sure did.

UPDATE TO LINKED STORY: "The parent company of Top Foods announced Friday that they will be giving Moses a $500 reward in recognition for the great thing he did in returning the money." Very cool.