My perpetually scattered personality establishes me as one of the most forgetful human beings to walk the earth. Seriously, Saint Mary's security staff began rolling their eyes at my excuses for misplacing my ID four weeks into last semester. I pay them weekly visits to pick up my hot-pink construction papered temporary ID. My wallet, calculator, sometimes entire binders worth of my schoolwork are also regular victims of my habitual neglect.
And before college, when I lost things, they were lost. Which is why, when my ID went missing the second week into my freshman year, I immediately purchased another. Two days later, I was disgruntled - borderline dismayed - to see my name on the white board next to my dorm's front desk. My original ID was found.
As the semester progressed and I familiarized myself on campus, I lost my belongings less frequently. If I lost my ID, I would wait it out and inevitably it was returned.
The supposed progress came to a dramatic end when I brought my whole wallet out with me one weekend and apparently was too much for me to handle. My parents freaked. My debit card was canceled and they kept telling me my missing passport card made me a potential victim to identity theft. God knows why I had that on me in the first place. My sister, Megan '06, told me to wait it out because she had had similar experiences. I agreed to hold out, but had little faith. Sure enough, six days later, there was a message in my Facebook inbox. A member of Alumni Hall had found it lying on God Quad and held onto it for me.
I was shocked and elated at the same time thinking, "Who does that?" It's one thing to pick up a dropped wallet, it's another (obviously) entirely to not take its contents before returning it to security - if one decides to return it at all. If I was on any other school's campus, there is no way someone would have gone out of their way to return a randos wallet. As a Los Angeles native, my friends at home still ask, "Why would you choose a Catholic school in the Midwest?" I tell them that in no other place do I I feel like the recipient of some holy miracle just because someone returned my lost item.
ConorMcCarter is my most recent hero, having returned my wallet to me two weeks ago and wishing me good luck on my midterms. Now if only that positive spirit could enter the cold heart of the individual who swiped the bike I forgot to lock outside South Dining Hall last December....
Contact Rebecca O'Neil at roneil01@saintmarys.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
