Letter to the Editor
On Jan. 21, I ended a short visit to your campus, one of a series of ongoing visits to St. Bonaventure University. I was a guest in Doyle Hall. As I walked out of Doyle, with a suitcase, two briefcases and a distracted mind, I slid on an icy patch but caught my balance and continued on. In that moment, my cell phone fell out of my pocket to the ground and I didn’t know it.
Fast forward maybe 60 minutes and I realize I can’t find my phone and look everywhere without success. It was suggested someone call it as I thought it probably was among my things and, if true, we would hear the ring and locate it.
Someone calls my number. We do not hear a ring. A voice answers my phone. It is the security office.
A student—neither security nor I know the name—saw the phone on the muddy, snowy walk and without a pause, marched it over to security and turned it in. I went to security and retrieved it on my way to the airport and home. I was without my cellphone for not more than an hour.
I live in New York City. I visit several different university campuses each year. My experience is when one loses his or her phone, especially outside on a public walk, it is found and either manipulated and sold fast for cash or used for massive international calling until it gets shut down. Or run over by a truck. My experience is not a student picking it up and immediately turning it in to the place most likely to get it back to its owner.
To the unknown student—thank you. The fact that it was obvious and immediate that it go to security suggests the Franciscan values we all talk about actually do live inside a Bona’s person. It certainly is a part of your DNA. And to every other student on campus today – thank you. The student who found my phone may not have immediately taken those actions if the peer group—every other student on campus—didn’t share a culture of community care and a culture of honesty and helpfulness so very evident in my ‘slice of life’ moment among you.
Since I can’t personally and privately say thank you, it seemed a good idea to do so in your newspaper – and say so to the entire campus. Thank you.
Ric Wanetik
