Trust. I thought I trusted the SPS campus and community that I didn't have to lock my bike up everywhere I leave it. Evidently, not. Today, when I went to dinner at 5:30 my bike was sitting in front of Middle on the bike rack, unlocked. Fifty minutes later I returned to my dorm, only to see that my MOST PRIZED POSSESSION- my light blue Trek road bike- was missing. At first I was nervous but assumed that a friend, whom I'd loaned the bike to earlier in the day but had returned it, had decided to borrow it again and just didn't leave a note. During my radio show, AbiRoad, I kept calling said friend to see if he'd borrowed it, and eventually he answered. He said that he returned the bike after finding a nice bike from the bike share program. Where was my bike? It had been missing for two hours.
It was returned, thankfully, to the bike rack, without a note but with somebody's bottled water in the holder. Honestly, what scared me the most was the thought that my bike was out there somewhere without me, with somebody who I didn't know, and what was happening to it? It was almost comparable to the feeling when a loved one goes missing. As a Third Former just finding my way around SPS I have pretty much ignored the 'Trust' issue until now, when I find how much of a problem it is.
At home in San Francisco I know to always keep my bike in view, or locked up. But even then, I was pretty bad about keeping my bikes safe. I've had three bikes stolen in the past two years. In fall term I locked my bike up at the Upper, at my dorm, behind Mem Hall, and virtually any other place where I left it. By now I ride so often I've become lazy and stopped locking the bike. But that is also because I've become comfortable at SPS-I trust the amazing people here to know better than to steal my bike right under my nose. I mean, who in the world would do that?
I can't say I've met anybody yet who strikes me as a thief, because the people at St. Paul's seem to be too good for that. We talk four times a week in Chapel about the community and how special it is to us. How to everyone whose had a brush with the school has been amazed at the maturity, intelligence, and friendliness of the students and faculty. How seniors almost tear up during their senior speeches talking about what they love the most about SPS.
Well, as a Third Former, my favorite thing about St.Paul's was the people. How they smiled, and waved, and called out my name. I've never felt more welcome in a community than this one. It's spring term, and although the year is coming to an end soon enough I still wake up every morning with a smile, ready to seize the day. But since this incident I'm just not so sure. A friend of mine, who is a senior boy, once told me that he doesn't trust anybody at this school. He said that he's known everyone for four years and still does not trust them.
Is that really the mindset we want this school to have?
That although we live together, eat together, learn together, pray together, play together, we're still not united? Almost everyone I know considers SPS their home. At least in my home I know when to ask to borrow something. I know the difference between grabbing a pencil or scissors off of somebody's desk versus taking their bike for two hours. At home you generally know what people consider their most prized possession. All of my friends at school know how much I love my bike. I even color match my sneakers with my bike.
At a place as auspicious as this one, if people can't trust each other, where can they?
Here, Here!
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