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Show OPINIONS A8 Thank you for your decency LOST ENGAGEMENT RING (Nor q REWARD !!! YY POD A "" IS AL L CAN QF F ER ) Illustration by Bryan Gomm/UVU Review When the Managing Editor of the UVU Review lost her engagement ring last month, the kindness extended to her was moving. But she wonders, how far will people allow their kindness to extend when people are different? She shares her story here. By Emma Hunt-Samudio Managing Editor T wo and a half weeks ago, I got married to the love of my life. Expounding on the details would be unprofessional and uninteresting, and reliving that happy day is not my point anyway. Rather, the point is just how wonderful and decent people really can be, and maybe how much farther we have to go. Though I lost my one-ofa-kind antique engagement ring less than a month before the wedding, I was able to wear that ring at the cerThe ring vanished from emony because of the hon- my pocket somewhere beesty of a fellow student. And tween the PE building and I was able to weather what I the Student Center after I thought was the permanent took it off to put lotion on loss of a tremendously sen- my hands. It was gone for timental item because of the four days, during which my kindness and generosity of sister, my now-husband and I countless others. searched frantically for hours You may have seen the and hours on end. While we "Lost" flyers I posted, or searched, dozens of people the ad in this newspaper my joined us and countless othfriend designed for me. You ers offered their thoughts and may have seen me, a sobbing prayers that we would find it. mess, and my then-fiancée, The fact that these strangcomposed and resolute, ers volunteered their time scouring the lawn outside the and cast aside their reservaPE building for a glimmer of tions to help and encourage white gold. You may have someone they didn't know seen the growing and diverse was, for lack of a better word, group of people crouched heartwarming. over, eyes to the ground, doEven amid my agony of ing the same. You may have self-pity, I couldn't help but even been one of them. be overwhelmed with grati- The fact that these strangers volunteered their time and cast aside their reservations to help and encourage someone they didn't know was, for lack of a better word, heartwarming. tude for others' thoughtfulness. And it was pure thoughtfulness. There could be no ulterior motives, no reason for helping us other than genuine concern. In those four days, I was reminded that people can not only be decent, but spectacular human beings. And also, I found, uncompromisingly honest. While my husband was making one sweep after another with a rented metal detector at the campus, I was in line at the hardware store buying a trowel to dig with, just in case. As I slouched through the check stand line, my phone rang. Not capable of handling disappointment, I steeled myself against the hope that it was the call I had been waiting for all week. But it was that call. The woman on the other end asked if I had lost an engagement ring and could I meet her husband in American Fork to pick it up? I stuttered an incredulous yes. As quickly as we could, my husband and I drove to American Fork and met the man who had found my ring (on the steps to the second floor of the Student Center, just minutes after I lost it, it turns out). Not only did he hand it over without hesitation, he also refused the reward we offered. Selling the ring could have paid his tuition that semester. It could have paid their rent or myriad other expenses. As so many others had done that week, this student reminded me that people can be decent and they can be wonderful. Every time I look at my left hand, I remember the honesty that brought the ring back and the generosity that made the temporary loss easier. But what would this same loss have looked like for someone else, someone unlike me? What if I had been searching for a ring from a same-sex partner? If I didn't dress conservatively or look like the nice local girl who "deserves" to be getting married? If I didn't speak English? Would strangers have scoured the lawn for a precious item on the behalf of an outsider? Maybe so, maybe not. Based on what I experienced, I would like to think that someone unlike me would have received just as much help and concern. But it's easy for many to think of Utah Valley as intolerant and bigoted, because, sadly, this has been their experience. Either way, what matters is that the students of UVU, at least, are clearly capable of behaving in truly compassionate and altruistic ways, and it's crucial to show that compassion to as many people as possible. That means everyone. |