Soo me and my friend were out yesterday in an urban park, walking along a path, and we encountered 21 dollars in cash and eyeglasses sitting on a bench. He wanted to take the cash and keep walking (we are both very broke rn and could use the money) but I convinced him to leave it cuz it felt wrong to me. It would really suck if I left that somewhere and came back and it was gone...

We talked for a while about it afterwards, which seemed to get a little heated, and basically: my position was that most working people are struggling with money more than ever and I don't wanna make someone's situation or day worse by taking some of their money they left behind. His position was that he doesn't have a lot of money and taking it would have helped.

Idk... would you have taken the money? Probably the better thing to do than anything would be to see if the person who left it was still around but... idk why we didn't do that. Also tbh I wouldn't be surprised if they were quite close (popular park) and they were just watching this unfold lol

Also the next person walking along maybe would have just taken it anyway lol

  • ReadFanon [any, any]
    ·
    2 days ago

    I would have taken both and left a note, then returned to do a bit of postering (especially if we're talking about glasses that aren't cheap gas station disposable things).

    Those glasses might have been expensive, or they might have been fairly cheap but important to someone to be able to function and despite being cheap in a relative sense they might still have been costly for that person (or it might have taken a lot of effort for that person to acquire them due to needing a prescription and getting a custom order or whatever.)

    One thing that is important to remember is that we are all ambassadors for radical politics, Marxist or anarchist, and that we need to act like it. Yeah, that money would be nice to have yourself but your instinct that the person could have needed it more is the right one.

    I don't expect the revolution to kick off tomorrow and I doubt that you're going to find yourself in the same industry trying to unionise with this person but that doesn't matter. Imagine what difference it would make if this was the case - having a person who is naturally inclined to your cause is invaluable.

    I have a real soft spot for Sikhism and in times like these I reflect on the reason why they wear turbans, amongst the other outwardly-visible signs of their faith. I also try to remind myself of the fact that, although I don't have the same sort of outwardly visible signs of my politics, I need to do what I can to be the kind of person that others go to because they trust me and they know that I will do what I can to help them.

    • PaX [comrade/them, they/them]
      ·
      2 days ago

      GOOD post

      Thank you for your input, you're always writing thoughtful replies

      Next time I'll try to write a note like you said maybe, or otherwise find who left it, in spite of my social anxiety lol

  • hello_hello [they/them, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 days ago

    I wouldn't take it because I'm eternally afraid of being a victim of being in a YouTube short where some bougie jackass records me and posts my face everywhere.

    But yeah I wouldn't fault your friend for taking the money.

  • Speaker [e/em/eir]
    ·
    3 days ago

    The glasses are obviously worth more, your friend is thinking too small.