Values

I was raised with honesty The uncontested rule, A policy that was enforced At home and, too, at school. An object found by chance or luck, I very quickly learned, Could never be embraced as mine, But had to be returned. The wrong change given in a store? An error being billed? I’d proudly point them out; those values Solidly instilled. But times have somehow changed and now Things don’t seem black or white. My conscience sometimes grapples with What may be wrong or right. And so, instead of pride, I felt A sense of ridicule When, admitting that I’d underpaid, I looked more like a fool.