While getting fitted for my new eyeglasses at Costco, I mentioned to Tim, the optical guy, that today was 9/09/09. “Yes, I know!” he replied. He had thought the very same thing upon rising. I suggested it had mystical meaning, and he thought so as well. I felt today was going to be an auspicious day and I shared that with him. “I hope so,” was all he said.
It wasn’t an hour later when I realized all the money I had with me was gone, as well as the gift and merchandise credit cards from varying stores I had stored in my desk for years and decided to spend today. I deliberately placed the cash and cards in a separate cloth purse, which was placed inside the satchel I carried cross-breasted. In addition to the small cloth purse was a can of Macadamia nuts I intended to return. I had carried them into the store with me, stuffed into the satchel, as the return line was way too long when I arrived. I figured I’d do it on the way out.
When I discovered the small Guatemalan cloth purse, carrying some 300 dollars in cash and an indeterminate amount of money in merchandise credit, was missing, I backtracked. I went to the last place I had been: Costco. No luck. Had it fallen out of my satchel somewhere? Had it been on my lap in the car when I opened the door, falling to the ground unnoticed? Had it been pick-pocketed out of the top of the satchel while I was distracted shopping? Had it been swept up into a 4th dimension vortex? Given my vigilance and organization, misplacing it was out of the question. It had either fallen out of the satchel, been stolen, or dropped to the ground when I got out of the car. Which one was it? If it were stolen, would I wish the thief good or ill will? If it had dropped to the ground outside Costco, would the person who found it be a thief? After all, it was just money and money-equivalences. My credit cards, driver’s license, ATM cards or any sort of identification saying the contents were MINE were absent. Is it really stealing if you don’t know there’s a person attached to it? Is it like finding a hundred dollar bill in the gutter? Or is finding a purse with money on a counter, on the floor of a store, or next to someone’s car actually stealing because the inference is that the person is nearby and will come back to look for it?
Stealing is one thing. Finding a treasure another. How do we distinguish? On the one hand, stealing is morally and ethically wrong. On the other, finding a treasure is good luck. So which was it? I’ll never know. What I do know is that the recipient’s intention will determine the outcome, good or bad.
Maybe 9/9/09 is an auspicious day after all.
