I ride the commuter train (Metra North Line) to and from work every work day. On the evening commute home, I often fall asleep for a 15 to 20 minute cat nap. I usually sit upstairs in the single seats and place my hat and coat and maybe any parcels on the flat coat shelf that is adjacent to the seats. You can probably guess where this story is going.
So on this evening's commute home, I set my baseball style billed cap and a light fleece pullover on the coat shelf. I slept no more than 10-15 minutes and when I woke up, my cap and pullover were gone. I didn't realize it until my station stop came up, and then when I went to pick up my belongings, I realized that they were gone. Now I was awake the full time after my nap and I didn't see anyone steal the cap and pullover, so it happened in those brief 15 minutes.
The blue cap is one that I bought at Fredericksburg National Military Park's bookstore and probably cost no more than $15-20. The pullover was purchased from J Crew in an inventory sale for probably $20. So the combined value of cap and pullover is not a significant amount, so no big loss.
However, I am stunned that someone would steal my belongings and feel like I've been violated. If my belongings had any significant value then I could sort of understand the rationale for the theft, but they really had no value. So the thief did not steal my cap out of need or to get any money from selling it. No, he did it because it was an easy steal. He did it out of spite and contempt for his fellow man.
I am really hurt that someone would even think of taking a low value item from me. It never occurred to me that anyone would steal my cap. I guess that I tend to be a trusting person, but not anymore; or at least not on the train. I won't ever be so trusting again.
Even worse though, you son of a bitch, you have made me a worse person by changing me from an honest, trusting person to one who will now view every fellow commuter with suspicion. I will trust no one anymore. You have chipped off a veneer of humanity from this little part of the world. We live in a time where we need more kindness, more trust, more humanity. So thanks for nothing pal.