During finals week, a friend from high school had a Facebook status that read (paraphrased), “Finals week brings out the best in people. I need to leave for a bit and the guy sitting nearby just understands, and will watch my stuff.”
I wanted to respectfully tell him to fuck off.
The week before finals, someone decided to steal my wallet.
I saw the signs all over, and have for the past three years. I was working on a huge paper and really needed to go find more books. I figured leaving for 15 minutes would not be a problem. It had not ever been a problem in the past.
I was sitting in the back of periodicals with fifteen-plus books spread out across the table, and the only reason I noticed the stolen wallet was because I wanted to grab a snack. I found it strange that they took my wallet – I had left my computer and phone unattended as well.
I was not perturbed by the theft, just annoyed that someone went through all that trouble to steal the most monetarily useless thing in my backpack.
This is what they got: 10 Canadian dollars, 10 USD, a debit and credit card and $20 on a Panera gift card.
After school ended, I realized whoever stole my wallet stole a lot more than that.
They took my father’s first passport picture, used when he migrated from India to England. When I visited my cousins in London over winter break, they looked through old photos of my father, who stayed with them for a bit, and found it. They wanted me to keep it. He looked like Shashi Kapoor, a famous Bollywood actor from the 1970s.
This may seem trivial, but they took my Berkeley student ID. I went to University of California-Berkeley for a summer and that student ID took me everywhere. Bus fare was free, so I used it to my advantage. I always hoped that if I ever went back to the Bay Area, I would be able to whip out my ID and hop on a bus with no problem.
Between my study abroad and my brother’s university schedule, our time at home did not overlap, and before a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t seen him in 10 months. My gift for him was the collection of currencies from India, Sri Lanka and England. I was really hoping to add the Canadian coins still in my wallet. I know he doesn’t mind, but it is that small thought that will not count.
Little things like my Red Cross cards from Missouri, Illinois and Northern California, bone marrow registration card and voter registration can all be replaced. The sentiment behind them can’t.
In the grand scheme of things, I know I got off lucky with only a stolen wallet; apparently, earlier that day, another student’s laptop disappeared. I have never understood the temptation to steal, and I feel that a majority of the MU community learned at an early age, that stealing was morally (and legally) nefarious. This little act skewed my perception of my supposed One Mizzou family. Silly me, thinking I could trust my family.
This column is my way of begging the students and other library visitors to not be dicks. People leave their stuff unattended throughout the year, and I know, the greater the population, the greater probability for theft, but at an already stressful time of the semester, does it really seem appropriate to increase anxiety and stress levels? Really? Really?
Now I just feel like Tina Fey.