Lost

Today around 2:30 I was sitting in the JFSB front atrium, and typing away on my computer. I should've been working on a paper or a diagnostic test, but I was definitely being distracted by something else. There was a guy sitting in the chair in front of me, working on his computer as well. He packed up and left a few minutes later, and after he was gone, I noticed that there was a wallet on the ground next to the chair. I went and picked it up...hopefully no one thought I was stealing it or something. I looked at the driver's license and recognized the face of the kid that had been in front of me. So I looked his name up on the BYU directory and called the phone number he had listed. He wasn't home, so I left a message with my name and number.

I had a class at 3:00, and I turned off my phone and went to it. After my class, no one had called, so I called the house back. This time, the guy was home, and I told him I had his wallet. Since he was coming back to campus, we set up a time and place to meet. So I gave him his wallet back right after I got out of Men's Chorus today.

Something similar happened a month or two ago. I was walking into the BYU library and saw a phone on the ground. I quite nearly stepped on it, actually. So I picked it up and called 'Dad' on the phone. When he answered, I explained that I had found a phone and was calling 'Dad'. He said his daughter had recently gotten married, and it was probably her phone. So I left my number with him, and he called his son-in-law. Then I got a call from the son-in-law, and he said they'd come meet me at the library (I guess they weren't extremely far away). So, they came and picked it up.

I don't mean to say anything to show off my goodness or anything; there are plenty of things I need to improve on. But I just want to share how satisfying it is to give something back to somebody that, if lost, would kind of send them up the creek without a paddle. If I lost my wallet or my phone, I'd be bummed for days. In both cases, the people said thanks and that was about it. I'm certain that neither party even remembered my name 15 minutes after the fact. But it felt good to give them their stuff. Why would I cheapen myself and try to gain anything from people who had accidentally left something behind?

I suppose that what goes around comes around - I lost my laptop charger a week or two ago, and didn't realize it until several hours later, when I remembered where I had taken it out of my backpack and left it on the floor. I couldn't find it, but the next day I went to the Lost and Found on BYU's campus and lo and behold, it was there. I recognized it because of the way I had wound the cords around it, though I hadn't marked my name. But I was really grateful to get my possession back. Being without a cord for a day was unfortunate, and having to buy a new cord would have been an annoying setback.