Wednesday, April 10, 2002
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Wednesday, April 10, 2002 |
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Whoever stole the Euro exhibit, please put it back We had a project going at the Peachtree City library and someone stole from the exhibit. Dear Joe, Dear Jane: Does it ring a bell? Peachtree City library? Euro folder? I am sure you know what I am talking about. Any pangs of conscience? I spent January in Germany. One day I dropped in at my hometown's local library and saw a neat poster displaying the new Euro coins and bills (12 European countries stopped using their individual currencies Jan. 1, 2002, instead using one common currency now). I asked the ladies for a spare poster to take back with me to the U.S. to be displayed at the local library of my adopted hometown, Peachtree City. They didn't have one, but knowing where it would go to, they simply took the poster down and gave it to me. That poster can now be seen at the Peachtree City library. In addition, for the past month the library handed out, on request, a folder with some basic information on the Euro and a set of the old German coins as well as a complete set of the German version of the new Euro coins plus a 5-Euro bill and an old 10-DM bill. Well, Jane, Joe, you removed a Euro coin and the 10-DM bill from this exhibit. That's called a "theft," and I am sure you know that. See, what bothers me most is not the loss. It's only material loss. Items of sentimental value. I sure would have liked to take the 10-DM bill back because I only have a single one left of these pretty bills. What bothers me more is that you violated my trust in you. Unfortunately, this was not the first time my trust was disappointed here in the U.S. (that really bothers me). Yet when I organized the folder, I wanted to defeat my own negative expectations, or call it paranoia, and not require the library staff to have people sign in and out merely to take a look at the set. I even refused to attach a note saying, "Please do not remove." And I refused to ask the director of the library about its history of thefts (she told me today, it's bad). I persuaded myself to have confidence in your honesty. "Why not trust people for a change?" I said to myself. Now my old distrust is back. Joe, Jane, that really bothers me. Please put the bill and the coin into an envelope and send it to the Peachtree City Public Library, at the attention of Ms. M.T. Allen, Director. No return address needed. Show that you have the courage to return the items. I have an extra brand-new 5-Euro bill; I'll send it to you. E-mail me at L2355@mindspring.com, a friend's address, so that I can send it to you. I am sure you don't want me to go back to Europe and tell people one cannot trust Americans. Right? Dr. Günther Rückl Peachtree City
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