As I was exiting a class recently, I found a phone on a bench. I looked around for the owner, but my search was to no avail. I even tried to guess the password so I could call someone in the owner's contacts, but that didn't work either. I went to a nearby class. Before it started, I entered and asked if someone didn't have their phone, but I was not met with a positive response. I taped a message to the bench saying that I had taken the phone to the lost and found, but this was not the case. I sat on the bench to watch the phone and simply wait an undefined amount of time to see if the owner would return first. If my patience ran out, I would leave and the note would be there. What would it take for people in this situation to wait for the owner? About 40 people came out of the class I was in and I'm guessing at least a handful of people saw it. Other people with obligations such as school, job, reason to be elsewhere, the desire to return home, relax, etc. could have also acted in the same manner, but we don't always lend ourselves to seemingly irrelevant situations which are unrelated to our lives. I sat. I waited. I watched as passersby looked at a stranger on a bench not on his phone, just looking into nothing. Eventually the owner came back. I handed him the phone, and before I could remove the note, he saw I would have taken his phone to the lost and found. I removed the note and made a terse remark to him. “I'm outta here” I said as I turned my back and headed the opposite direction as him. He understood that I was waiting for him and appeared very relieved that his phone was unharmed and back in his hands. But most of all, he also gave me a sincere look which read “thank you.” I'm sharing this story because I wanted to see if someone might take something from it.
I did. Our lives can be busy and filled, but we are the ones who fill them up. We are also the ones who can empty a bit to make room. Whether we choose to is up to us. -ton
