真人真事： 一個誠信的故事

一名流浪漢走引她，囁嚅地對她自我介紹：「我叫瓦倫丁，今年32歲，失業三年了，只靠乞討度日。我想說的是，不知您是否願意幫助我，比如給我一點零錢，讓我買點生活必需品。」

瓦倫丁說完後，用期盼的眼神望著哈里斯。

看著眼前這名年輕的黑人流浪漢，哈里斯動了惻隱之心，她微笑著對瓦倫丁說：「沒問題，我十分願意幫助你。」就伸進口袋去掏錢，遺憾的是，她身上沒有帶現金，只帶著一張信用卡，這讓她有點尷尬，她拿著信用卡，不知接下來該怎麼辦。

瓦倫丁看出了她的難為情，小聲說：「如果您相信我，能將這張信用卡借我用嗎？」心地善良的哈里斯想也不想便同意了，隨手將信用卡遞給瓦倫丁。

拿到信用卡後，瓦倫丁並沒有馬上離開，又小聲徵求哈里斯：「我除了買些生活必需品外，還能用它再買支水嗎？」

哈里斯未加思索地說：「完全可以，如果你還需要什麼，都可以用卡上的錢去買。」

哈里斯再也沒心思吃飯了，在朋友付完賬後，兩人默默走出了餐廳。

令他們意外的是，剛走出餐廳大門，就發現流浪漢瓦倫丁已經等候在外面，他雙手將信用卡遞給哈里斯，恭敬地將自己消費的數額一一報上：「我一共用卡消費了 25 美元，買了一些洗漱用品和兩樽水，請您核查一下。」

面對這位誠實守信的流浪漢，哈里斯和朋友在詫異的同時，更多的是感動，她不由自主抓住瓦倫丁，連連地說：「謝謝您，謝謝您！」

瓦倫丁一臉疑惑，她幫助了我，我應該感謝她才是，她為什麼卻要感謝我呢？

隨後，哈里斯和朋友去了紐約郵報，將她剛剛發生的事告訴了報社。

紐約郵報也被瓦倫丁的誠實感動了，當即予以報道，頓時在社會上引起了巨大反響，報社不斷接到讀者的來信來電，都表示願意幫助瓦倫丁。得克薩斯州一名商人看了報道後，便於第二天給瓦倫丁匯去了6000美元，以獎賞他的誠實。
更讓瓦倫丁驚喜的是，幾天後，他又接到威斯康辛州航空公司的電話，表示願意招聘他擔任公司的空中服務員，並通知他盡快簽訂工作協議。

沉浸在巨大喜悅中的瓦倫丁感慨萬千地說：”從小母親就教育我，做人一定要誠實守信，即使身無分文流落街頭，也不能夠把誠信丟掉。我之所以能得到這麼多人的幫助，是因為我始終相信，誠實的人，總必會有好報！”

"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."