I was sitting at my desk when the phone rang. To my surprise it wasn’t my phone conference but actually the school of my eldest. The secretary was reporting that the wallet had been turned in and that my child should come and pick it up the next day.
Well, the wallet was pretty cheap but it did contain several important items.
- citywide public transport card
- twenty Euros
- school identification card
- library card
So early the next day my child went to the office and picked up the wallet and put it back into the backpack for safe keeping.
At dinnertime both mama and papa were curious about the status of the wallet’s contents. I was surprised that the wallet had not been opened, but mama was so curious she went over and plucked it out of the backpack and opened it.
It was an unhappy yowl when she discovered that both the money and the transport card were missing. The money was gone but I understood that, yet the transportation card made no sense. It was actually a student transport card and was only valid with the student id card that matched it. It actually cannot be used by anyone else, should they be stopped with it then it would be worthless.
My child has learned a lesson in responsibility, but has also learned a lesson about people. They really are not as trustworthy as he naively thought.
As for me? This pretty much reinforces my core beliefs in mankind.
