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Our listener is facing a moral dilemma. She just found a diamond and believes it belongs to her ex mother-in-law. After divorcing her son, she never received child support or reimbursement for anything.
Is the diamond her blessing or should she return it?
Here’s her email:
I have a situation of the personal/moral dilemma nature. It’s not something that I want my family members’ opinions on right now, so I’d like to bring to you guys and your listening audience for feedback.
Back Story: My mother-in-law is the meanest woman alive; even her own children openly acknowledge this fact. I have known her for over 20 years and I’ve endured a constant barrage of degrading and hurtful remarks the entire two decades. Sometimes people get nicer when they become a grandparent, but her – NO. Approximately 6 years ago I drove her to the airport to go on a trip. During that trip, she noticed that the diamond center stone of her wedding ring was missing. Her insurance company subsequently reimbursed her for the loss and she got a shiny, new, and even bigger diamond.
Fast-forward six years: Grandma’s son and I have been divorced about 4 years. I have not received any court-ordered child support or reimbursement for medical & dental expenses in over three years. I have a 10 year-old and a 12 year-old that need glasses and braces respectively, which as you can imagine is a financial burden for a single mom school teacher. Well…
this weekend as I was cleaning my car to prepare to trade it in, I found a little blob covered with years of soccer equipment mud embedded in the carpet in the trunk that turned out to be A DIAMOND. Apparently, Grandma’s diamond fell out when she retrieved her luggage from my trunk all those years ago. It has to be her diamond, right? I mean, what are the odds that someone else dropped a diamond in my trunk?
My first notion was that I should call her right away and return the diamond, but then I started thinking…
#1 – I really don’t want to talk to that mean old woman.
#2 – She’s wealthy, and yet she has not even given her grandchildren a birthday or Christmas present since the divorce, or stepped up to help financially when they were sick even though she knows her son hasn’t paid child support for years. I had to sell all of my own jewelry, plus my deceased Dad’s watch and my grandmother’s piano two years ago when my daughter was hospitalized.
#3 – My children have needs that would be covered by the funds from selling this diamond.
So, should I return this diamond since it really does NOT belong to me, OR should I look at this as a GIFT FROM GOD that this diamond dropped into my lap and embrace the opportunity to provide for my kids?
I know myself well enough to know that there will be that underlying guilt because this is not my property, but this could be so beneficial for me and my kids. WHAT SHOULD I DO? Is the right thing to give it back, or is the right thing to provide for my kids? I need your advice.
Thank you so much in advance.
