sharing is caring

recently we were cutting the jasmin bushes in our garden. as we had a ginormous amount of flowering branches, we put them in some vases on the street, to share them with the neighbours.
we felt very pleased as quite some people walked by carrying some branches. however, when my mum checked how much was left, not only the flowers but also one vase was gone!

we were rather annoyed, so i went to put up a sign: please take the flowers but bring back our vase. not long after, a woman stopped by to tell us she had 'found' the vase in some front garden round the corner. these guys were quite surprised when my mum came to see them; and they promised to bring the vase back once the flowers where wilting. mine are doing so by now, so i am curious when i will see that vase again!

"virtue is also if no-one is tempting you"

it is nice to have principles - as long as nothing challenges you to stick to them. i guess in many cases one then realises having missed out on half of the context of the situation (and every so-often also having judged people without having any idea about what they were going through).

so my question is: should one revise one's principles when realising that they were too narrowminded (ever heard of complicated principles??) or should one still stick to them (because it's a principle to stick to one's principles)?