The kids went out to the skating rink the other day and there, in the snow, was an iPod. Daniel was the one who found it. He picked it up and brought it in the house after skating. We let it warm up and then plugged it into our computer and, surprisingly, it charged up right away. I figured that we had no hope of finding the owner. After all, the rink is used by all kinds of people, who come and go and, like most iPods (I imagine) this one did not have anything that identified the owner by name. There were no pictures, either. I figured that the iPod would wind up a "spare" that sat in the miscellaneous electronics drawer (formerly, the junk drawer) until we finally got tired of looking at it five years from now and tossed it out.
Still, as Daniel pointed out, there was a lot of music on it, which probably represented someone's memories of good times, old friends, loves and broken hearts.
But now, it was lost.
We had to find the owner.
The first clue was from Daniel, who noted that iPod was a little different than what he had seen before. He noticed as well that the iPod had writing on the back in French. Then we turned to the music. There were a variety of artists, none of whom I had ever heard of. That, in and of itself, is not unusual - I stopped following popular music in 1984 - but what struck us was the collection of rap music, in French. It was Janet who noticed that. Suddenly, it dawned on us that the iPod likely belonged to one of the exchange students in town who often use the rink.
We made a call to one of the host families.
She made a call.
We got a call.
We found the owner!!! A nice, young exchange student from France, who happens to be staying with friends of ours. We couldn't believe our luck.
Through his host family, he sent a message of gratitude and remarked on the honesty of Canadians. I read the message to Daniel, who beamed and said that it made him feel good to have found the owner.
The owner came to claim his iPod tonight and he insisted on giving Daniel a reward. It was unexpected, which made the moment even better for Daniel. He was excited enough to know that he had reunited the owner with his great music. I doubt he knows it, but he helped me teach my kids a great lesson: when you do the right thing, everyone wins.
6 comments:
Wow! Great story...intrigue, super-sleuth skills, and the restoration of faith in humanity. :)
Great story. Good job, Daniel!
Awesome job Daniel. It's a very heartwarming story.
That's fantastic! Good for Daniel ad Janet - you're raising some, honest, smart kids there.
Here's the other side of the story. When the exchange kid came here from France, he couldn't believe the honesty of Canadians - almost to the point of questioning if there was something 'wrong' with us. I'd hear of the differences fairly frequently. When we take back our cans and tell them we have 100 and they believe us - would never happen in France. Overpaid in our change given back at the store, you tell them and give it back - never in France. You get the idea.
When the ipod (it's really his brother's who lent it to him to come to Canada with music from home)was lost, he "knew" it was gone for ever, because in France, it would have been.
Canadians however, ARE different. So not only did Daniel learn something, but so did the exchange student. Our value systems are just part of who we are. Let's hope we can all continue to pass our values on. Cliche, but like the ripple of the stone tossed in the pool, I don't think any of us will realize how far this gesture will have an effect.
Honesty, guess it's a Canadian trait, like it or not, believe it or not.
My husband found an ipod on the seat of his bike in the garage in the building where he works, and was able to return it to the owner because she had registered her name on the thing: megan's ipod, and as it turned out there was a megan who also worked in the sampe building.
not so lucky for our son who 'lost' his new iphone at a party. Lots of the other kids suspected a couple of others who had it, but no one fessed up, eventhough it had his photos, email, and his name on it.
not everyone is so honest:(
glad to hear your son is!!!
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