It was employee appreciation picnic today - basically we get to dress casual and have a longer lunch hour, and have lunch outside on the campus greens - $2 for a burger, drink and rice krispie square - not too shabby really. When I was getting my food I noticed an iPod nano in a case in the grass. I tried to see if anyone around knew whose it was (I checked the color and playlists so the person would have to give me a bit of info to claim it). I am totally amazed that a few people I asked tried to convince me it was theirs (not very well either...one of them didn't acually know what it was - it just looked expensive to him I guess...). Then later, when I left info with campus security to post vague info and my number to call to claim it, a few losers actually CALLED me to try and claim it...seeing as they couldn't describe anything specific about it or where it where it went missing I told them to try again later (the fact that they didn't really argue was what totally convinced me they were scummy)The girl who did actually lose it was ecstatic and could tell me all manner of wierd things about it, I am sure I got the right person. So I get to return it to her tomorrow...apparently she's a campus groundskeeper and listens to it all the time at work to stay sane. She was so happy. It was great. I like to think doing nice things just adds to the happiness out there and it'll spread it's gooey goodness all about her too.
It got me thinking tho- how many people would just have kept it or tried to sell it? Based on the number of people with enough balls to try and claim it from me, I imagine it's a pretty high number. I just know how crappy I'd feel if I lost my iPod, plus there's no way I could use or sell something I knew was stolen...the guilt would eat me up. I suppose if noone tried to claim it after a couple of month's I'd give it to my nephew or something, as I have one and he wants one. No need to be greedy. I don't know if I could even sell it if I did desperately need the money. It's just plain wrong to me.
So, at the risk of being a little too smug, I feel like I've been good today. I was thinking about leaving a message for the world earlier...I suppose this will be it.
It feels good to do the right thing.
10 comments:
"Based on the number of people with enough balls to try and claim it from me, I imagine it's a pretty high number."
Balls, Geosomin? Those people have no balls? Or like Hitler, they only havve one ball (a little known fact which if you didn't know it, you're probably sorry I told you!!!:).
Such people are either out to lunch, lacking in confidence or who they are, or just plain, ammoral sickos - a majority of people, I'm afraid. The latter are the most dangerous, because so common and so completely unpredictable and lacking in the sort of sense that if you talk to them, they won't have an ounce moral guilt or non-guilt, they just too easily get swayed once way or another. Such people often end up being the date-rapists who use Rohypnol. The worst scum of the earth. They ought to be castrated and made to it their pathetic excuses for manhoods. But what do you do with such women (of which their are as many people?). Well, Geosomin, I leave that up to someone who is a woman. I'm afraid you might just be too nice to them. Suggestions, anyone?
Maybe, like Saudi Arabia, we should have a form of corporal punishment that involves chopping the hands off thieves. Too many wrongful convictions, though. We just are in a society (and Taiwan's worse this way) which has lost moral conscience and common sense. Materialism leads to bad hair days - ahem, I mean bad brains, rotten brains, rotten people, and rotten minds. Souls that will rot in hell if left to fester in greed and venality.
J and I were talking about this last night. It seems more and more that corruption and greed are the norm now. The idea of government and the people in public eye/ famous are seen to be greedy and corrupt and noone seems to care, then why should we? A whole new generation is being brought up to this way of thinking and I hope they rebel against it and try to be better. How else are we going to get by? Maybe I'm a small town girl, but to me your neighbors and friends are just as important as strangers and deserve to be treated with respect (until they prove you wrong...then it's vivisection). That's the whole reason for being in a community...otherwise just go live on an acrage by youself sitting on top of a big pile your things and guard it with a gun. More and more it seems that people think you have to look out for number one and get ahead as noone else will...you even see it our neighborhood. It's a pretty good one, but we've heard from the many canvassers that come to our door that very few people of the well off families in the nearby suburb on the river even answer their door or donate to charity and are rude to the canvassers...to me, if you have enough why not share? If you are too broke, at least invite them in for a drink of coffee if it's cold outside or smile at them and wish them a good day. Happiness and misery both spread the same way...I'd rather spread the good stuff. I mean I can be a bitch with the best of them, but I do try to be a nice person.
It was just so strange to see greed and dishonesty up close yesterday. My wish for them is the kind of "hindu justice" I was talking about with one of our foreign grad students yesterday- as a part of his religion he believes that when you die, before you get to go to paradise, every wrong thing you've done will be done to you so you know just how bad you've been. Then if you feel you are worthy, you can enter paradise. I really like the sounds of that.
I'm afraid I myself have been a little rude to canvasser, at time. Not really, really rude, but since I was having a very bad time at the time. He wasn't straight out about he fact he was ultimately asking for money, though, which bugged me. And I had on my mind. This was in Montreal.
I have always been very good about getting things that could easily be identified and reunited with their owners, though. My girlfriend is the same. We found a wallet. Turned out it belong to someone whose aunt worked in the 7-11 just a hop, skip, and jump away from our hotel room in Kenting, Taiwan. Not much of a find for her and her niece, mind you. Just 100 dollars in the wallet. But the realization that the health card wasn't going to waste and she wouldn't have to reapply must have been rather a relief. Health cards are rather a good thing in Taiwan. In Canada, reapplying for a health card takes a much shorter time than waiting for he doctor herself or himself. The linups in Canada, even just for a flu, or a shot, or a checkup, let alone in a hospital is mindboggling. here in Taiwan, it's just one minute to fifteen minutes at most. And Taiwan doesn't have a huge national debt. It does have a stupendous credit card debt, though. That comes from national and material consciousness (see above). The family is very important here, but the family is falling apart faster than anywhere. The rebellion is a good thing, but the materialistic aspects of it are not. Canada has no reason to not have a health system like Taiwan does. It's just ridiculous. Bureacratic and mind numbing. and more people go to doctors in Taiwan, than anywhere else in the world. Sure, there are user fees here (with your health card, a visit only costs 150 NT dollars; 100 dollars is the lowest denomination of paper money). 150NT dollars equals about 40 dollars Canadian. Not much to ask for to save your health. And more serious things don't cost much more. Medicine is usually included. I myself, and I don't have a medical card yet, when I went to the doctor, I paid only 450 Taiwan dollars, including medicine. The doctor cleaned my ears and I went next door and picked up the medicine at the prescription counter.
This is one STELLAR thing about Taiwan. Restaurants, fast food restaurants, or any store for that matter, may be impossibly slow (staggering the imagination! along with the stoplights here, even worse than Montreal, might I add), but the medical system is like no other. I can't imagine anything better! But people go to doctors here every time they get a sore throat or the sniffles. They don't use their sense about this. I don't get it. Your body is the first and best doctor. Getting medicine (and five pills a day at that) every time you have a sore throat is something I've been trying very hard to avoid here. Everybody thinks I'm foolish, but I swear, it's the other way around. But damn, the MEDICAL SYSTEM IS GOOD, NONETHELESS. People just shouldn't have blind faith in doctors and medicine!
Sorry for getting so off-topic. How did I get here at this topic?!
Neat.
The girl who I gave the iPod back to gave me a bunch of Tim Hortons gift certificates as thanks...how perfect is that!
Slaughter them all `til we're knee-deep in ofal.
offal
awful
aweful?
Let's call the whole thing off...
Blood.
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