Wash. cabbie returns $6,000 left in car

LYNNWOOD, Wash. - A taxi driver found a wallet containing almost $6,000 in the back of his car, then raced to the airport in time to return it to his owner.

Vinod Mago, 55, says he never thought twice. The owner thanked him with $100, which Mago used to take his family out for dinner.

"My mother always said, 'If you're an honest person, you will always have money in your pocket,'" said Mago, who drives a Seattle-Tacoma International Taxi Association cab.

Mago had just started his shift Feb. 1 when taxi coordinator Stanley Lal called to say a man identified only as Peter was missing his wallet. Mago pulled over and found the wallet, stuffed with bills totaling $5,950.

The man, who was planning to buy a car with the cash, said, "'That's my life savings!'" said Lal, who was rewarded with $20.

Months ago, Mago found $640 in his taxi and returned that money, too.

"If money doesn't belong to me, I don't keep it," Mago said. "I know God is watching everybody, every second."

On Monday, a cabdriver in New York returned a bag containing 31 diamond rings to a passenger who had left it in a trunk. The passenger had tipped the driver 30 cents on an $11 fare

 I often times hear newcomers, and people working the steps for the first time, ask "What is humility? How do you know if you're practicing it? What happens if you don't?"
 It's my experience that humility isn't like a mosquito bite; you don't "find out later" whether or not you're practicing it or not. It's a habit, cultivated over a lifetime, based in prayer, acknowledging the realities our program is based in. It's important, to me, that my program be based in humility, and anyone that I work with on this program also earnestly attempts also to base their program in humility. By consistently every day plugging myself into my spiritual source--God as I understand her/him/it's certainly not me!--I realize 1)I am human. This means I cannot control other humans, their behavior, decisions, their impulses, or their desires. It does mean I can control myself, my impulses, my decisions, my behavior, and my re/actions to situations, no matter when or how they arise. 2) It means I am responsible for myself first: the disease of alcholism in the family context has deeply colored how I see the world. My "old tapes" tell me that I'm a worthless, ugly, c**t, a no good hooker; when I came into al anon, I firmly believed these tapes, and it was shocking to me when it was suggested that the people who called me these terrible names might themselves feel this way. Perhaps, it was suggested, I could change how I feel about myself by how I look at myself. This, then gave whole new context to the slogan "First Things First:" if I look at myself with love, I feed myself healthy food, not junk, and I certainly eat regularly; I make sure I go to bed on time, with clean sheets, the telephone off, the blinds pulled and the door locked, and I make sure I get enough sleep; I make sure I wear clean clothes that fit, look nice on me, and I brush my teeth, shower, and do my hair. I stop putting myself 2nd under the context of "There's so much 'other stuff' to do!" This is called martyrdom, and its a form of manipulation. It is not humble to put myself second when I am sacrificing my well being, physically or mentally, and certainly not spiritually; this includes my attendence at meetings.  3) But, certainly not last, humility is rooted in the reality that I am a work in progress, just like each other human being here--this means that each human has the dignity to make mistakes, make decisions, enjoy their success, and face what they define as failure on their own terms. I do not interfere in another's process if I am not asked. God, as I understand him/her, is ultimately the one that is in control of my process and theirs.
 I hope this gives a primer, from my own experience, of what humility is, and isn't.