On The Other Hand

By Connie A. Anast

Hello, dear readers! It's another month full of shopping and seasonal get-togethers, anticipation of the upcoming holiday and all the wonderful sensations only the fall could bring. But this past month, I became a statistic. And not a fabulous one.

One evening, I was bringing in my groceries from my car and accidentally left my purse on the passengers seat. I didn't give it a second thought as I loaded my arms with bags and continued into the house. I locked my car as usual and had my windows cracked for the unusual warm streak we were under and went inside.

When I arrived at my car in the morning, I realized something was wrong. The Drivers door was unlocked. I quickly ran through the events of the previous evening, opened my door and realized my purse was gone. Panic seized my stomach and I ran into the house and called my credit card company and the police department, in that order.

What could I have been thinking? I never leave my purse in my car, but with all the bustle of getting the cottage cheese in the fridge, I must not have been thinking clearly. I chided myself relentlessly as I waited for the police and couldn't believe I was that stupid. I worked for law enforcement for 5 years, for crying out loud, I know better than that!

When the Deputy arrived, I expected to be reprimanded politely for my innate lack of brainpower, but I received a different reaction all together.

"Just because you left your purse in your car does not give any creep the right to steal it."

Well, then, that made me feel better. He also told me that leaving my window down a crack for the heat just may have saved me a $200 repair bill on the car. "If a thief wants your purse, a window is not going to stop him." The Deputy gave me other safety tips, gave me his personal pager number and case number and went about his way.

I then had the task of trying to remember all that was in my purse and all that I had to replace. Drivers license, credit card, all the miscellaneous numbers and memberships...it became the worst day of my life. I went to work, depressed, violated and angry. And I stayed that way. Until I received a phone call from my mother. A woman walking her kids to school had come across some papers floating on the side of the road and picked them up. They were papers and cards from my purse. She walked up and down the road, collecting as much as she could and found my parents address and called.

Wow, I thought, what a nice neighbor. Then I received another call from another neighbor who had located more. Both of the callers lived just a couple of blocks from my home. I was ecstatic. I still had not received my Drivers License or credit card, but I thought I would never see them again.

Over the course of the evening, I received calls from two more people, one who had my license and the other was a fifth-grader who persuaded his friends to give up some video rental cards and papers and give them to his mom, then went back out to see if he could find some more. He even found my credit card, coated in dirt and hardly usable. A final caller found my purse, emptied, in her cul-de-sac.

I am still amazed and grateful at the actions of my neighbors. I couldn't think of appropriate thank-you's for all these people, so I delivered angel dolls to their homes, thanking them for being the "angel on my shoulder". For the fifth grader, I went a step farther. I wrote a letter to his principal. I explained what had happened and the fact that not only did he find my things, he went back and looked for more, just to help. I told his principal that the school, as well as the parents, of this child should be commended because it is the values taught in both places that help make a child learn the right thing.

I used to think I lived in a nice neighborhood where you could walk your dog, leave your door open on a balmy summer day and have a relative fear of crime. Because of the actions of a handful of people, I still do. And I have learned never to underestimate people, both their faults and their qualities.