If you found a wallet lying on the floor, right in front of you, and you pick it up, to find $200 and some important documents like NRIC, Cashcard etc. Now ask yourself, will you, hand the wallet over to the lost and found counter/ police/ the owner himself?
Ok I can probably predict your reply. With an angelic beam and innocent eyes you're gonna say : "Of course I'll return the wallet- I'm such a nice person and I love this whole world.
No seriously.
After years in the Singaporean education system any rounds of civic-moral education many of us are already programmed to answer this way- to behave like the pure-hearted beings we're supposed to be.
However, I want you to really look deep into your heart, and question your fundamental moral values: If you really had $200 in your hands, would you SERIOUSLY return it to the owner/authorities, or would you give in to temptation and keep the money?
So anyway you guys are probably wondering why I'm blogging about this. Well, just a couple of days ago my family and I decided to celebrate my younger brother's birthday at Downtown East resorts. Since we had checked into the resort in the afternoon and the party we had organized was not till late evening, we decided to burn some time at the arcade.
It was the classic tragic " i- left-it-there-and-it-went-poof" story. Since I was wearing shorts with no pockets in them, I was holding my valuables - wallet and phone, in my hand until my brother wanted to challenge me to mario kart. Being the muddle head I am, I had left my valuables on the chair next to me, and promptly forgot about me upon leaving the game. 5 minutes later upon hurriedly returning to find it, it was long gone.
It was largely my fault anyway. I could have left my valuables with my parents who were close by before rushing off to trash my brother at table soccer, but I had carelessly left them somewhere accessible to any random passer-by to pocket.
Since I was surrounded by teenagers at that time, the possibility that it had been a teenager like myself who took my valuables is the highest. Being the love-filled person I am, I'm simply going to ASSUME that the teenager who took my wallet had not eaten for 3 days, was starving, and desperately needed the money to buy food. And he had to take my phone to call the church and thank the lord or something like that.
So anyway, back to the topic. Before this episode I was, like many others, unsure whether or not I would keep $200 I found on the floor. In fact I would probably be more inclined to keep the cash. But now, after experiencing the fluster and desperation of looking for a lost wallet, I am absolutely sure that from now on, I will definitely return all lost possessions to their rightful owners.
I'm sure that many of you guys reading this have experienced losing prized possessions before-with the high theft rates in our class last year. To those lucky souls who as of now have not lost their possessions before, and everyone in general, may I urge all of you to follow your conscience, and return the poor soul his lost wallet.
Cheers!
~Kevan
Did you check with the lost and found?
ReplyDeleteAnd anyway, I empathise with you. As you know, a similar incident happened to me last year and it still hurts when I think of that incident... Perhaps I wasn't careful enough to retrieve my valuables after the test, but still, thieves like those should be condemned and thrown into the fires of hell. (Unless they were really starving for 3 days and needed that phone to call the church, but what would these people be doing in Downtown East?)
And I agree with you on certain points.
On paper, an average person would be "civic-minded" enough to return the wallet to the owner or the Lost and Found department.
But in reality, one would really just grab the money and go.
As for me, i usually believe that I have standards to maintain for myself, and I certainly would not take that wallet. Its just plain degradation of my character if I really took it.
So there, I sympathise with you for your loss. Hope it gets returned, but I guess it will never happen. Look on the bright side: You're getting a new wallet! :)
MX