哈里斯是美国纽约市一家知名广告公司的高级职员。2010年8月的一天中午，她和朋友在一家餐厅吃饭，中途朋友想出去抽支烟，于是两人一起走出餐厅，站在外边的大街上。

一名流浪汉走引她，嗫嚅地对她自我介绍：“我叫瓦伦丁，今年32岁，失业三年了，只靠乞讨度日。我想说的是，不知您是否愿意帮助我，比如给我一点零钱，让我买点生活必需品。”

瓦伦丁说完后，用期盼的眼神望着哈里斯。

看着眼前这名年轻的黑人流浪汉，哈里斯动了恻隐之心，她微笑着对瓦伦丁说：“没问题，我十分愿意帮助你。”就伸进口袋去掏钱，遗憾的是，她身上没有带现金，只带着一张信用卡，这让她有点尴尬，她拿着信用卡，不知接下来该怎么办。

瓦伦丁看出了她的难为情，小声说：“如果您相信我，能将这张信用卡借我用吗？”心地善良的哈里斯想也不想便同意了，随手将信用卡递给瓦伦丁。

拿到信用卡后，瓦伦丁并没有马上离开，又小声征求哈里斯：“我除了买些生活必需品外，还能用它再买支水吗？”

哈里斯未加思索地说：“完全可以，如果你还需要什么，都可以用卡上的钱去买。”

瓦伦丁拿着那张信用卡离开之后，哈里斯和朋友重新回到了餐厅。

但当坐下来后不久，哈里斯开始怀疑和后悔，她懊丧地对朋友说：“我的信用卡不仅没有设置密码，里面还有十万美金，那个人一定拿着信用卡跑掉，这下我要倒大霉了。”

朋友也埋怨她说：“你那么随随便便相信一个陌生人。你呀，就是又善良又天真呀！”

哈里斯再也没心思吃饭了，在朋友付完账后，两人默默走出了餐厅。

令他们意外的是，刚走出餐厅大门，就发现流浪汉瓦伦丁已经等候在外面，他双手将信用卡递给哈里斯，恭敬地将自己消费的数额一一报上：“我一共用卡消费了 25 美元，买了一些洗漱用品和两樽水，请您核查一下。”

面对这位诚实守信的流浪汉，哈里斯和朋友在诧异的同时，更多的是感动，她不由自主抓住瓦伦丁，连连地说：“谢谢您，谢谢您！”

瓦伦丁一脸疑惑，她帮助了我，我应该感谢她才是，她为什么却要感谢我呢？

随后，哈里斯和朋友去了纽约邮报，将她刚刚发生的事告诉了报社。

纽约邮报也被瓦伦丁的诚实感动了，当即予以报道，顿时在社会上引起了巨大反响，报社不断接到读者的来信来电，都表示愿意帮助瓦伦丁。得克萨斯州一名商人看了报道后，便于第二天给瓦伦丁汇去了6000美元，以奖赏他的诚实。
更让瓦伦丁惊喜的是，几天后，他又接到威斯康辛州航空公司的电话，表示愿意招聘他担任公司的空中服务员，并通知他尽快签订工作协议。

沉浸在巨大喜悦中的瓦伦丁感慨万千地说：“从小母亲就教育我，做人一定要诚实守信，即使身无分文流落街头，也不能够把诚信丢掉。我之所以能得到这么多人的帮助，是因为我始终相信，诚实的人，总必会有好报！”

A bum you can trust - honest!
Reunion with AmEx angel

By KEVIN FASICK and TODD VENEZIA

A Manhattan homeless man had an emotional reunion yesterday with the kindhearted ad executive who lent him her American Express Platinum Card outside a SoHo restaurant, in what became a shining act of generosity, trust and honesty.

"I didn't have to thank him. I trusted him all along," said Merrie Harris, 45, as she hugged Jay Valentine, 32, outside La Esquina on Kenmare Street.

Harris lent her card to Valentine there Monday after he asked her for change. Most people who witnessed the act of extreme generosity doubted he would ever come back. But a short time later, he returned with the card, stunning many and earning Valentine the title of Most Honest Homeless Man in the City.

William Farrington
THANKFUL:Jay Valentine returns yesterday to the spot where he was lent a credit card by Merrie Harris.
"What he did was no surprise to me," Harris said yesterday. "People keep telling me, 'Why would you talk to him and trust him?' But are we only supposed to trust people we know? What would Bernie Madoff's friends be saying?"

Valentine told The Post that he was surprised to be handed the card, but he never thought to take advantage of Harris' generosity.

"I wasn't tempted at all," said the 32-year-old Brooklyn native. "She trusted me, and I didn't want to violate that trust. I would never do that."

Valentine said he has been homeless for a few years, since he lost his job at a real-estate company that had allowed him to sleep in the office. He said he now spends his nights in an Internet cafe whose staff allows him to sleep on their chairs. He said he was hungry and low on cash on Monday when he saw Harris standing with friends outside the restaurant.

"I asked her for change and told her I wasn't working," he said.

"She said she only had a card. She said, 'Can I trust you?' I said, 'I'm honest, yes.'

"I went and bought a few things and came back and gave her her credit card back, and everybody was surprised.

"I said thanks for trusting me. I guess she had a good sense of judgment. She knew I was trustworthy."

Valentine said he bought deodorant, body wash, a pack of Nat Sherman cigarettes and Vitaminwater. It all cost about $25, he said.

"She was really lucky it was me she ran into" and not someone who would have stolen the card, Valentine said. "I was really in need. I only had a couple of dollars on me."

"It sets a good example that people in need -- like I am or worse -- can and should be trusted," he said. "Everybody in the restaurant was surprised. They probably thought I would run off with the card."

Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...

作者：网络文章

 

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