The meaning of one cent

A certain event occurred to me the other day, which caused me to pause for a moment and consider the meaning of the penny. The penny by itself is a rather lonesome entity, having very low self-worth. The penny does stand out from the rest of the coins due its unique color, but unfortunately, at least in my opinion, its color leaves much to be desired. I suppose the one "saving" grace (pun intended) of the penny is that when they are collected en mass, they begin to take on greater value (not to mention weight). In spite of all these shortcomings, the penny can help to convey expressions of humanity. For example, if you have ever suffered through a horrible experience at a restaurant and your plight had one primary benefactor, namely, the "server" (politically correct form of waitress/waiter), then you may utilize a penny as a tip, to convey your emotional disgust with the quality of the service you received. Keep in mind that I do not necessarily recommend this course of action, but the point is that a penny can indeed help to convey human emotion, a trait of humanity. A penny can also be used to convey a trait of humanity, commonly called stupidity. As an example, I refer to the event to which I alluded earlier. I received a letter in the mail a few weeks ago from a business (which shall remain nameless) with which I had maintained a monthly subscription. Because I had cancelled my subscription and because the company had overcharged me, they were sending me a refund check for the overcharged portion. As you may have already guessed, the amount of the check was $0.01. Upon opening the letter and seeing this check, several emotions came racing to the forefront. First, I was in disbelief that a company would actually spend $.29 in postage plus the cost of the envelope to mail me a check for 1 cent. Second, I was frustrated, because I wondered how many other times this had happened to other former customers--could this help to explain the increase in subscription rates that I was required to pay? The company had been electronically withdrawing the monthly fee from my account; why did the company not electronically deposit that 1 cent instead? Third, but only for a brief moment (1 cent's worth of my time to be exact), I felt joy that my lost "sheep" had been returned to the fold.

I now wonder what I should do with this check. It does not have the same level of permanence as a coin, and it would require significantly more effort than what it is worth to convert the check into a coin (or at least a digital representation thereof). Of course, this is only looking at things from my perspective. What additional costs may be incurred by others as a result of the company's brainless action?

I posed the question of what I should do with the check to one of my college classes, and even my class was divided on the issue. "To cash or not to cash, that is the question!" One of my students observed that if I do not cash the check, then the company will probably call me sometime in the future wondering if I received the check, thus propagating their stream of brainless activities. I'll leave you with a final thought posed by another of my students: "A penny deposited is a penny earned."