The other day someone snatched a laptop from a café close to
my neighborhood, jumped into a car and drove off. The laptop owner, a talented
local musician who had his work stored on it, pursued the thief by clinging to
the fleeing car, with tragic consequences. He was dragged, and
died of his injuries.
This was an exceptional result of something that has sadly
become all too common. Laptops, cell phones and IPods taken in full view of
others because someone thinks they need not work or pay for what they want.
Only two days later, DD had gone for a walk with a friend in
a nearby town. While visiting the Berkeley Rose Garden, now fragrant and in full bloom thanks
to a good rainy season, her IPod managed to evaporate. At first, she assumed
she had possibly left it at home. But when she returned, the whole family
scoured the house and, no IPod.
It seems very possible, in light of the oh-so many swipes
and snatches, that someone may have helped themselves to her pocket when she
was distracted, smelling the roses, so to speak. But it was also possible, just
maybe please –let-it-be, that it fell out of her pocket, and was still
somewhere on the ground.
But if so, what were the odds it wasn’t picked up and
pocketed after that?
DD remembered that the Rose Garden closes after dark. But
she and DH drove there, and with the help of flashlights, it took but a minute
to see that although the garden gate was indeed locked, someone had left her
IPod off the ground right next to the gate.
And there was more. When an IPod is locked, apparently there
is no way to open it and see who the owner might be. But there is one thing you
can do, and that is take photos with it. The people who found it and left it so
thoughtfully where she could come back for it, also left their faces by way of
saying Hello.
We don’t know this family, but we love them. If you know
them, thank them for us. Small acts like this make up for a lot. I’m also
thankful for the many passers-by in Berkeley who chose not to take the IPod as
it sat, waiting for DD by the gate, for five hours.
I will make sure to pay it forward, somehow.
