Why, oh, why didn’t I take the train home?
A D.L.A ADVENTURE STORY © crossroads |ˈkrôsˌrōdz| noun: a point at which a crucial decision must be made that will have far-reaching consequences. Ah, a night out on the town with friends has come to an end. Time to head home. Hmm, public transportation or foot-power? OUTSIDE STATION: 11:30 PM SCORE: 0 %: Walk home. ROAD: SCORE: 1 Time passes. %: Walk. INTERSECTION: SCORE: 1 Left takes you down a road with no sidewalks. Right leads to a dark road paralleling a park. %: Go right. DARK ROAD: 12:00 PM SCORE: 2 Foot, bicycle, and car traffic is light. %: Walk. ROAD: 12: 10 SCORE: 3 The logic behind having more street lights on this section of road remains a mystery to you. In the light, you spy what seems to be a wallet in the middle of the street. %: Get wallet. MIDDLE OF STREET: SCORE: 8 Taken. %: Examine wallet. MIDDLE OF STREET: SCORE: 5 Money! 91,000 yen ( USD 784.42 ). %: Put wallet in pocket. Kouban (Police box): SCORE: ?? You return the wallet and its contents to the cop on duty. %: Kiss money goodbye.
Lost Purchasing Power.
The gadgets I could have had!
- Combined with 30,000 in savings = G4 iBook for Hikaru. (this was my first and only thought at the time of discovery.)
- iPod Video
- New digital camera
- iPod Nano for youngest child.
- 1 Gig memory stick for PSP.
- Wireless NAS.
- etc…
What would you have done?
These toys are temporary things.
Returning the money is its own reward.
Now, if you keep the money and return the ID, you’ve still done well, but not nearly so much as I would have hoped.
I could have added
g. Pay one month’s rent
but it still wouldn’t have felt right…
A very long time ago I lost a small bag with passport, money and train ticket, in Rome. A cop, off-duty, found it, and called the hotel. The next day I had my belongings back. In Italy. In Rome.
Since then, I am pretty much in a moral obligation.
I’ve returned the money as well.
Gotta return it. Bad karma.
I’ve returned and not retuned the money. (Didn’t return it when it was just cash with no ID.)
When I arrived in Tokyo, I dropped 2G’s in cash and traveleler’s checks AND my passport–and I had it back an hour later. I, too, am in karmic payback mode.
Your reward is on the way, ne?
Giving it back was the right choice. Sure, 700 bucks would be nice, but being nice to your fellow man (or woman; whatever) is the civilized thing to do. If everybody acted like that, we’d have no problems on this planet. :-S