Now THIS is an honest man

[Bhelliom]

MONTREAL (CP) - Take a Muslim cabbie from New York City, a Jewish businessman from Montreal and a forgotten suitcase containing valuable diamonds and precious stones and what do you get?

One honest taxi driver and one relieved jewelry dealer.

Thierry Bellisha, 32, and two colleagues had just finished lugging several suitcases out of Hossam Abdalla's taxi at LaGuardia Airport on Thursday morning when Bellisha realized one was missing.

The co-owner of Montreal-based Crown Ring immediately looked up but it was too late - Abdalla had already sped off, unaware he still had a suitcase worth several hundred thousand dollars in the trunk of his yellow cab.

"I screamed and I prayed to God like crazy," Bellisha, an Orthodox Jew, recalled in an interview Friday when asked his initial reaction. "I just asked God right away, 'Please help me now, I need your help right away.' "

As panic settled in - calls were even made to "important rabbis in Israel" for divine intervention - Bellisha and his partners returned to their hotel to review the establishment's videotapes to see if they could identify the taxi's number.

But the blinding sunshine from that morning obscured the numbers.



Several kilometres away, Abdalla, oblivious to his customer's anguish, happened to look in his trunk and saw what he called "a weird bag."

"When I opened it, I found the jewelry inside," Abdalla said in an interview from New York City on Friday. "It was mostly wedding bands, lots and lots of them.

"It was crazy. I've never been in a situation like that."

Abdalla, who will turn 30 later this month, then looked in his taxi and found one of Bellisha's business cards. The name matched the name on the suitcase, so after a call to Crown Ring in Montreal, Abdalla was soon talking to one very relieved businessman.

"There are not enough words to describe how he felt."

The two men eventually hooked up at LaGuardia on Thursday night for the switchover.

"It was an incredible gesture," Bellisha said. "It was very humanitarian.

"That cab driver is a perfect lesson for humanity all around the world."

The tale, which made the front page of Friday's New York Daily News, didn't leave Abdalla feeling like a hero and had him playing down the religious angle.

"Of course, I hope everyone would have done the same thing but this proves there's no such thing as Jewish or Muslim or whatever. We all pray to the same God.

"In a situation like that, you don't think 'What is he, Jewish Buddhist, Muslim?' He's just a human being working hard for his money."

Abdalla, who moved to the United States from Egypt in the late 1990s, said the greatest joy he got from the experience, aside from witnessing Bellisha's obvious relief, was hearing the pride and happiness in his father's voice when he called him back home to tell him what had happened.

Abdalla said Bellisha has promised him a reward.

On top of that, Abdalla will be getting the Montrealer's business whenever he's in the Big Apple from now on. "Actually, he became my personal cab driver now in New York," Bellisha said. "I know I'm in good hands when I drive with him."



I don't know what I'd do in that situation... Probably keep it I'm a bastard like that

[Trev]

Originally Posted by Bhelliom

I don't know what I'd do in that situation... Probably keep it I'm a bastard like that

I would have had Bellisha in tears as his diamonds turned up all over the place, I'd have to use the "I thought it was a gift from God" line if I got caught though

[MorganGrayson]

I am much more comfortable on this misbegotten planet knowing Hossam Abdalla is also here.

My youngest daughter found a $5 bill on the school bus once. She was about 8 at the time. She took it to the school office, explained that she'd found it and wanted to make sure the kid that lost it could get it back. Some...time...later, when they finished gaping at her, they took the bill and stuck it in an envelope. The hysterical little boy who had lost that week's lunch money turned up to claim it. My daughter was very, very happy.

Sometimes it's fun to do things like this just to see people's reaction.

[Trev]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

Sometimes it's fun to do things like this just to see people's reaction.

So true, imagine Bellisha's reaction when his diamonds started turning up in pawn shops throughout the world

Something "THAT" important shouldn't be in the trunk - period!

[MorganGrayson]

Trev, you are and always will be "my crumpet."

However, I think we enjoy different facial expressions.

[Trev]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

However, I think we enjoy different facial expressions.

The panting smiling ones are my favourite

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by Trev

The panting smiling ones are my favourite

I rather like the "twisted, sweat-soaked, grunting, helpless, about-to-scream" face.

[Newton]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

I rather like the "twisted, sweat-soaked, grunting, helpless, about-to-scream" face.

We need a "constipated" icon

[Bhelliom]

Amazing that in 7 posts we can go from an act of pure selflessness in returning "several hundred thousand dollars worth of jewlery" to.... "we need a constipated icon"

[Trev]

Originally Posted by Bhelliom

Amazing that in 7 posts we can go from an act of pure selflessness in returning "several hundred thousand dollars worth of jewlery" to.... "we need a constipated icon"

We have a way of finding our own flow with any thread

[Red]

To get back on topic.

Had I been in that situation, I would have returned the suitcase.

Now, put me behind a armored truck that drops a bunch money and watch greed overshadow my basic honest nature.

[PornoDoggy]

I would have returned it ... because I'd have undoubtedly been busted for stealing it if I hadn't. (I'm lucky that way).

When I was 14 I cashed a $60 paycheck at a grocery store. Lady "counted" out three new twenties; there were four stuck together as the first one, and three stuck to the 2nd and 3rd. I told the lady she gave me too much money. She looked at me and said, "Little boy, I don't make mistakes."

Can you say parrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-teeeeeeeeeeeeeee???

[MorganGrayson]

PornoDoggy...my husband's view on ethics is "hey, ya tried to do the right thing and the bitch wouldn't let you."

(I got sidetracked into "I so HATE the way people treat children!!" so at the moment I'm not in a good place to say what I would have done. No. Wait. I remember myself at 14. I would have cried. Then I would have gone home and told my parents...who would have had the cashier gutted and returned the money for me.)

I once had a quarter forced on me by a neighbor because I helped her carry in her groceries. I must have been ten or eleven. My mother made me go give it back, saying "you don't take money for doing what you're supposed to do."
Many, many years later, the experience was repaid when a little neighbor boy helped the adult me carry in my groceries. I was half through the sentence of offering him something when he did the "hands behind the back, smile, shake the head, smile, throw it in reverse" thing I learned to do.
Cool, and here's to you, Mom.

[Trev]

I'm sticking with keeping them, but then I have no ethics or morals.

[Bhelliom]

Trev I think you're the only honest one in here...

As I said... It would be a dilemna with me (more in that I'd be wondering if the guy got my name, cab number, or any other identifying information) Otherwise, I'm sleeping on a bed of jewels.