I feel like venting, but only for a moment or two.

You’ve heard the story — yes? — about the homeless man in Boston who turned in the back pack containing $42,000. The authorities put the word out about the fellow and citizens around the world have responded with donations to help the guy out. Last I heard they’d received more than $125,000.

Honesty pays.

Well, something not quite so noble happened to yours truly in the past 24 hours.

I left a money clip at the health club where I work out each Monday through Friday morning. I left it in the locker where I store my stuff while I get my heart pumping and lift a few weights. I showered, got dressed and scurried out of the place.

The clip was left in the locker. It had about $7 or $8 in cash attached to it.

I thought the clip was lost. I went back to the health club, asked if anyone had turned it in. I went into the locker room but the locker was in use. I went back to the place later in the day to search the locker. Nothing there. I went to work.

Just before I got off work, my cell phone rang. It was my wife. “Do you want to stop by the health club on your way home to pick up your money clip?” she said. I did. One of the managers had received the money clip the previous day from someone who turned it in — without the dough. “The guy just said ‘I found this clip,'” the young manager told me this afternoon. He didn’t inquire about the cash that was with it.

Hmmm, I thought. Who could it have been? I told the manager I would love to know the identity of the “Good Samaritan.” Then again, another part of me thought otherwise. What if it’s someone I know?

Hey, the money isn’t important. It’s the principle of the thing, as they say — as if the guy who returned the clip would understand anything about principle.

There. I’m done venting.