Friday, March 14, 2008

Moral Dilemma

So this morning I found a lovely brown and turquoise umbrella on the SLUT (= South Lake Union Streetcar, originally named SLU Trolley, hence the SLUT, which stuck even after they realized it was a bad acronym and changed the name). Now, I was the only person on the slut, so it's not like someone put the umbrella down and was coming back for it, so I thought, "Ah, free umbrella, and just in my colors. Lucky me!" But then I was a bit torn, because whoever lost the umbrella might have come looking for it. I really doubt that though - in my experience when you lose an umbrella you don't know where you lost it and they aren't that expensive and you just buy another one and try to be more careful. I could have given it to the driver for the lost and found, but as per my above point, I doubted anyone would come looking for the umbrella, having probably not known where they lost it, so it would just sit forlornly in the lost and found forever. Thus, I took the umbrella, because I'll appreciate it and one can never have too many umbrellas - this will be my work umbrella. Many people in Seattle will not deign to use umbrellas so as to not appear weak in the face of the elements, but I am not one of those people. Umbrellas are my friend. I blame the glasses. I wish I had my camera so I could show you this umbrella - it's really quite cute, brown/turquoise/white squares and a good size...but to be honest I probably wouldn't have taken it if had been plain black or something (ie not something I would have bought on the spot if I was in the market for an umbrella). Now - did I do the right thing? What would you have done?

2 comments:

Dawn said...

If it was raining as hard in Seattle as in Auburn today I so would have taken an umbrella I found. I seriously contemplated mugging someone for their umbrella.

Anonymous said...

Moral dilemna-wrong to take the umbrella. It deserves a long life on the lost-and-found shelf. However, the umbrella may prefer a life with you, even though it might be shorter. You'll leave it someplace and the cycle will go on...love, mom