The PANANOLE News: FSU-Panama Student E-Zine

     You just got out of class and you head for the cafeteria to loosen up a little before your next class. You spot your friends, and they’re all sitting in the same table. You go up to them, and put your backpack on the floor near the table next to all the others. You talk to your friends for a while, about trivial things like how boring your last class was or about how you had to cram for today’s exam. You chat away. Then suddenly you feel thirsty and decide to get something to drink. You reach for your backpack, and look for your wallet. However, when you open it you realize not only that your wallet’s missing, but that you cell phone’s gone too. What would you do if this happened to you?

     This is exactly what happened to me September 2nd, when I was in the cafeteria. When I realized that my things were missing, at first I thought some of my friends were playing a prank on me. I couldn’t understand how it was possible that someone could have taken my things in just a minute, and inside college! I had to wait until all of them got out of class to ask around. None of them knew where my stuff was. Since I’m a little absentminded, I figured that maybe I had dropped it somewhere. So I went to the classroom where I had my last class, to the Lost & Found in the bookstore, and to the office. I found nothing. It was then that I realized I had been robbed.

     Immediately the security guard told me I had to go report the theft to the PTJ (police), and they took forever. Mrs. Anyfanti sent a general email to all the students telling them to bring anything they may find to the office. However, nothing was ever found.

     This is my third semester at Florida State University, and nothing like this had ever happened to me. I’m so used to seeing people leave their bags there and walk around. Obviously they never leave them for long, but they do nonetheless. I never thought that something like this could happen in such a small college environment.

     The funny thing was that they opened my backpack and took only the wallet and the cell phone. I had my car keys in there and other important things, but they only took those two things. It had to be someone who knew they were in there. Another strange thing is that there were other bags next to mine, and there was even one girl who had left her cell phone on one of the cafeteria tables next to where my backpack was completely unattended!

     I lost all my important papers, my cell phone, and on top of that, sixty dollars I had just collected from the used books I had sold. What bothers me the most is that I had to spend my entire week getting my license, cédula, and other necessary documents; and as we all know, that takes forever in this country.

     However, this is not the first time this has happened. During the Spring 2003 semester, Michelle Núñez, who has already transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee, had her wallet stolen. She put some posters up begging for it to be returned since the money in it was for charity purposes. The wallet, however, never appeared. I can’t imagine there could be so many cold-hearted people out there.

     You may think I was careless. After all, why should I leave my bag all by itself when I knew important documents were in it? In that sense, I know I should have paid more attention. It is sad that this had to happen in our college. We’re all part of it, and we’re so few that things like this shouldn’t happen. Nevertheless, now that it did, I walk around all the time with my backpack and never leave it unattended. I’ve also become quite a nuisance among my friends telling them not to leave their things alone. All I can do now is learn from my mistakes.

     I hope that with my experience I have been able to help you realize that we should be more attentive to your personal belongings, not just in college but also in any environment. I do not wish for this to happen to anyone else. I can only tell you to BE CAREFUL.

     You never know, this could also happen to you.