Temptation

I was checking through my late mom’s jewelry box when I came across a small box that had my aunt’s (who had also passed away recently) name written on the outside. My mom had mentioned this to me before, that she was safekeeping some of her sister’s jewelry but I had totally forgotten about it and my cousins (my late aunt’s children) had not mentioned that either.

I opened the box to check what was inside. There were several small pouches and a tiny ziplock where I could clearly see the antique coral bracelet inside.

The instant I saw the box, I immediately thought that I had to tell my cousins of the find. But when I saw the corals – I kid you not- it seemed a devil appeared on one side of my shoulder and whispered in my ear – “if you don’t tell, nobody will ever know about this”. Sounds so cartoonish but that was how the scene unfolded. I admit, there was an almost 5 second delay before I shook off the image of the devil and closed the box and firmly resolved to let my cousins know as I soon as I was out of the room.

That 5 seconds when I was looking at the coral bracelet and wondering what would happen if I kept the find to myself was really scary. I had no second thought about giving my late aunt’s jewelries to her children initially but probably because the coral was exquisite and I adore corals that the temptation occurred. Scary.

I never for the life of me thought that I would be in a situation where I would even consider keeping something not mine for myself. I was a bit shook. Talking with O about what happened afterwards, I thought about my mortality and my morality. I looked on it as a test that I am human and that I can make mistakes but that I can still have a handle on my morals.

So that was what happened today.