The following analysis is not intended to evoke your sympathy, but merely your sense of judgment. I'm not high and mighty; I have no pedestal. I'm only hoping that there's some optimism and trust left in the world, but I'm probably going to be proven wrong again.
My purses have a history of being filled with every little thing that's ever been important to me — pens, pencils, a metal choo-choo-train pencil sharpener, ticket stubs, measly amounts of money, my library card, my IDs (which are required for school), a spare trombone mouthpiece, my phone (which happens to be dead most of the time)...the list goes on. I've had trouble closing the thing, and one of the straps fell off the little latch, so I had to repair it by ways of a knot. Because I had everything in my bag, I felt on top of things. Need scissors? Here they are. What about a nail cutter? Got it. Lotion? Perfume? Random jewelry, paperclips, and Post-It-Notes? Have fun!
Nice, yes? And then, out of nowhere, it was stolen. Faith in humanity = -1.
Let me reiterate something. There was nothing of material value in my bag. Never has been, and I doubt there ever would be. On Thursday (January 11th), this remained true: my phone was dead and hadn't been turned on since Christmas break; I had $2 in there that day that I owed someone; my metal choo-choo-train pencil sharpener was looking pretty groovy. It was a terrible end to a terrible week that continued on for another week. As a reference, a Double-Week only exists in Hell/Mongolia. It's where one week merges seamlessly into another without any thoughts about weekends or sunshine or ponies. Half the time, you're wondering if your esophagus will start consuming the rest of your organs because it's absolutely sick of everything. The rest of the time, you're willing your esophagus to do just that so you'll have a medical reason for not being in school. Ever.
The gist of it is this: I had so much stuff that morning that I left my bag in front of my locker on accident. Someone must have come by between around 6:50 and 7:20 and taken it, because it wasn't there when I realized that it was missing. The usual tactics of thieves in my school involve picking out anything that's worthwhile (ahem...nothing), and throwing the rest away. Throwing. It. Away. Into a trash can, into a dumpster. My life, saturated by burger grease and old bananas. I wasn't happy at all — the word pissed could be evoked here without fear. Being the vindictive bitch that I am, I narrowed the culprit down to one of two people:
- Someone who gets cheap thrills out of being an asshole
- Someone who actually needed money and decided that my $2 was pretty much a lottery
Of course, that means that almost anyone in my school is a suspect, due to its ghettocity.
I don't dwell on it, if I can, because I can make it by without the random things I carry around. I'm almost freer without them. It's just the the thought of why someone would do that that gets me riled up about it. And then, the inevitable question: why me? There have been backpacks in the hallway for weeks at a time. Backpacks hold a lot more than purses. There's a Lost-And-Found in the office. Doesn't anyone have the decency to go put things in there so, perhaps, someone could have their metal choo-choo-train and camera phone photos dating back to the "exciting" events of their summer vacation? And, lastly, there were people around my locker that I knew (but probably did not know me as well). The girl next to me, Christine, sat there for minutes after I left but she's in a perpetual daze every day of her life, I assume, because she didn't notice the 10-pound brown monstrosity right beside her, or the fact that I have had a locker by her for years and years. I don't want to be critical of her, but it doesn't take much effort to look, does it? Turn left, and realize that something's there?
My question is this: we know that animals steal. Animals fight, animals taunt and tease and belittle. So what makes us human? It's not compassion (my dog is a shining example of compassion); it's not intelligence (again, my dog has outsmarted several people I know). It's morality. If people could have a little bit of interest about the world around them, think of how much simpler everything could be. Wars wouldn't start because there wouldn't be a reason to fight (I stretch the truth here). Emotional baggage wouldn't be carelessly thrown away, like a garbage bag. So here's my hope for you, my dear human race. Try to take other people's lives into consideration — try to care. We stand to lose many more things than trombone mouthpieces and ticket stubs if we continue this empathetical charade.
Read 3 comments (Leave a comment?)
Mike Vroegop said:
What about a chainmail RFID-enabled purse? chainmail would have to be low-gauge aluminum for lightness and strength, with maybe some kind of liner in case it does get dumped. Have electromechanical locks on it that engage when your RFID wristband(with pretty flashing LED lights) isn’t detected. If you’re clever, you might even be able to rig up some kind of sensor system that delivers a high-voltage potential between the chainmail and a surface on the lock when the lock is being forced open, to give thieves a jolt if they try to break it.
Just my ideas. Sorry about the purse, though.
Posted on January 27, 2007 5:11 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
You know, I wish I’d thought of that. I could also super-glue my dog to the outside of the bag, and they’d be absolutely unable to lift it. There’s also the possibility that she’d crush EVERYTHING, so I can’t trust her!
And I really could install some sort of taser to the zipper that doesn’t active if I’m wearing my special wristband. There’s also a necessity to have a special ID on every item within the bag so I can find its location and de-active it, or force it to return like in The Iron Giant via a special site or phone number.
Thanks! Like I said, I’ve really gotten over losing my stuff. But prevention is the only cure sometimes :P
Posted on January 27, 2007 2:00 PM; Permalink
Mithraugion said:
Sorry to be a breaker of optimism and maybe lower your faith in humanity, but quite honestly, a lot of people don’t hold to morality. Humans according to some philosophers (does not feel like searching for a name from my philosophy book), psychiatrists, writers (off the top of my head, Joseph Conrad), and myself believe people to be evil/selfish at heart. They only consider themselves first before they ever consider others.
That being said, people do take thrill from taking people’s belongings (kleptos…) and some take thrill from hurting others. You know a person truly is a good person when they overcome this inherent evil, but there are many who just don’t give a damn.
About a week ago, a friend of mine also lost her purse (stolen… how convenient). She claims a few others lost their purses as well, so there may be a person targeting purses in particular. Although she did eventually recover it, the purse suffered large water damage. Most obvious was her iPod (4th gen clickwheel 20 GB if I remember right).
Still that can be rebought. I’m pretty sure you had a lot of small trinkets that you held dear (same case here, which is why my room is a mess). Sorry for your loss.
Posted on January 27, 2007 9:31 PM; Permalink