The boy has misplaced his winter jacket. We’ve searched all of the obvious places, but no reward has materialized yet. We’ve been trying to get him to think of the last place he wore it or brought it, but we might as well be trying to teach string to braid itself. With the Winter coming, you’d think he’d at least be a little interested in finding it. Rather, he seems resigned to the fact that it’s gone. He probably figures “Mom and Dad will just buy me a new one.”
Which brings me to the school’s “Lost and Found” barrel. We searched it this morning in the hopes of his jacket turning up. Once again, no luck. But what really struck me was *how full that barrel was”. It was overflowing with clothing. Jackets, pants, gloves, hats, umbrellas, a football, shirts. Everything. An entire 55-gallon barrel filled to over-flowing with clothing. I couldn’t even wager a guess at the number.
A teacher came up to me to ask if we wanted help. I responded with my astonishment at the shear number of articles of clothing, and she said it had already been filled once and emptied and that it would likely be filled again.
None of that stuff registered to any of their owners as missing. Does no one think to come look in the Lost and Found? Or is just that no one cares.
A pair of pants: “He has plenty of others.”
A pair of pink mittens: “We’ll just buy her new ones…”
Such waste. And the kids don’t care because no one takes the time to teach the lesson.
One reply on “Something to Think About”
Sad reality of living in a ‘disposable’ generation I guess. I still have the first fountain pen I got as a gift from a favorite aunt/uncle when I turned 13. No value is attached to items of everyday life … there are no ‘treasures’ because the word has no tangible meaning nowadays … it would/will be a challenge to teach such a lesson to youngsters who have ‘plenty more where that came from…’