300

Written on October 22, 2007. Found while doing housekeeping on my notebook.

Sharon misplaced her wallet today.

When she finally retrieved it from the toilet where she misplaced her wallet, she was missing $300.

I wanted to tell her not to worry, that it is only money: not her identification card, not her ez-link card, not her debit card, or the rest of her wallet.

But I suddenly realised I have no right to make such a statement.

It is not just money. It is food, it is transport, it is bills. It is money that was exchanged through many hours of time, time that could be better spent revising and relaxing.

She works for her own allowances; I get my allowances from my parents.

I tried to imagine why the person did what she did. I tried to empathise with the person. Perhaps, she thought the wallet belonged to a rich person, for why else would anyone carry $300 around?

Still, I was devastated, I was angry, I was scared. Sharon doesn’t need to go through all this.

When Sharon messaged ‘hopefully the person needs the money more than me,’ I was proud, I was ashamed, I was helpless.

Nevertheless, she added, quite rightly, “If not I hope the person choke and die a painful death.”