8.27.2009

a moral dilemma

For a while now... Ashley and I have been getting oogeley eyed every time we see a fancy camera. Not that we're aspiring photographers, but we just wish that we could take better quality pictures of George and what not.

I may be a newfound believer in "the secret." I don't know anything about the secret, except, I think you are supposed to wish for something and then it comes into your life. So Ashley and I have been wishing for a nice camera, and then when I rented a car yesterday and looked for a safe place to stash my wallet... would you look what the secret had in store for us in the middle console!


You are looking at our brand new camera! Thank you secret! The secret taketh, and the secret giveth.

Just kidding. No but seriously, this is a nice camera. I believe it's a Canon EOS Rebel Xti, which retails for about five hundy.

Immediately I thought of how I could live with myself if I kept the camera. I briefly scanned the pictures, to see if they camera taker or subjects appeared to be morally reprehensible, in which case they would NOT be missing their camera. Nope - seemed like nice enough people.

I also thought, "what if I return it, and the slimy guy at Hertz pockets it for himself!" "Yes... that's it... I'll keep it, and go on the case myself. I'll personally track the owner down." That idea sounded plausible for about 5 seconds.

Ultimately, we made the easy decision to return the camera. How could we keep it and feel good about ourselves. Taking pictures of all of these important parts of our life - with a stolen camera. It'd be like winning the lottery with a ticket stolen from an orphan.

I parked the rental car, flashy camera in hand... and strolled into the office. As soon as I walked in, two men met me with large smiles. One, was the guy from Hertz who was probably thinking, "you fool, that camera could've been mine," but the other, was the owner of the camera. I could tell it was him, because I had seen his pictures (a fact I neglected to share when surrenduring the camera).

They were both very pleased with my decision to return the camera. I felt good, knowing that I had done the right thing... but also glad that I hadn't pocketed the camera and then have to lie, to the owner's face no less, that I had stolen his camera.

C'mon secret... send us another digital camera!

5 comments:

Johnny said...

My brother-in-law found a brand new high end Nikon on the side of the road. They tried to track the owner down, including have a buddy look up the license plates in some of the pictures. After about 5 months my sister decided to give up the search and keep it. My sister doesn't even know how to take pictures off of a camera and put them on the computer. So I traded her my $400 DSLR for the $1100 one that she found. I flew it with me from Florida back to Boston.

I had just bought a charger for it online. I had only had a week to enjoy it, when my sister called and told me they were driving home and saw a person from one of the pictures standing in their front yard. So not only did I have to give it back, but I had to pay shipping, and was out the price of the charger. It was painful day to be honest.

David said...

booo honesty!

ashley's mom had an odd encounter with a digital camera being tracked down. i hope she shares it.

dang johnny... that stinks.

Dawn D. Lion said...

I found a camera one time at an opportune time. (the secret??) An out of town friend had me go and take pictures at a scenic spot outside Austin for evidence to contest a parking ticket. It's a long boring story but through a series of mishaps it took me half a day to get there (with a crying baby) and when I got there I discovered the batteries had run out on my camera. It was a bummer, but I figured since I was at the scenic spot I'd walk up there and enjoy the view even though the day was a wash. Lo and behold, I found a lone disposable camera waiting for me on a rock, with enough room to take pictures for my friend and his lawsuit.
The fun part was getting the pictures developed, and reconstructing the series of events in the night of this sorority girl who eventually lost her camera.
You could see her dressing up in cute outfits with her roommate earlier in the night, and then later, meeting the guys they hooked up with, and then pictures of the group of them at the spot where the camera was waiting.

David said...

that's awesome dawn. i also like the picture of the young couple you have/had on your refrigerator. a good entry for "found" magazine

Fee_dizzle said...

Shoot Victoria and use secret like its hot it works and well its about time more people use it. Won me a some chump of change 2 times i only use it when we need it.