People ask me, “What do you like best about your job?” and I answer,
“Students.”
People ask me, “What do you like least about your job?” and I answer,
“Students.”
I’m being a little bit facetious. Boring meetings and report cards (especially Middle School report cards!) are certainly not fun parts of my job, but truly, a determined student can make my job really awful.
Two weeks ago, I’d discovered, much to my astonishment, that I really liked teaching in the Middle School. I really liked my students (even the little rebels and the mouthy ones) and enjoyed heading to work every day. Then some little monster decided to steal my iPod Touch out of my purse (and unless s/he pickpocketed it while I was carrying the purse, from a locked cabinet as well). I like them a whole lot less now.
Isn’t it sad how one rotten apple can spoil everything? Now I look around the room and I wonder who is a sneaky, lying thief. I wonder who has so little respect for her/himself and for me that s/he is willing to go to that effort. I am saddened that after 18 years, someone stole from my personal property in such a callous and ignorant way.
I wonder, is the thief is a pathetic kid from a crappy broken home who doesn’t know any better? or a kid from a wealthy home who just wants to see if s/he can do it? was it a dare? or an impulse?
What happens next? Is s/he afraid to return it? is it hidden somewhere?
I know a couple of boys who at that age ‘accidentally’ stole things. They didn’t really mean to, but the impulse urged an action, and then they had stolen goods in their hands and were too afraid to return them, fearing greater consequence. I suspect that is what happened in my classroom. I think it was a bit of a challenge, and then the thief didn’t know what to do.
Well, I’ll help you out. This is what you need to do to avoid a lifetime of guilt and bad kharma:
Put the iPod in an envelope. Label it “Mrs Bird. Carlin” Take it to any SD83 school or to the board office and have them put it in the school mail. It will arrive in my hands a few days later. Your guilt will be absolved, and I will send you some good kharma for making a good decision.
Seriously. You don’t want bad kharma. The last kid who stole from me ended up as a drug addict for a $5 theft. You don’t want that multiplied 100 times. You’ll end up rotting in a hundred pieces in a tar pit or something. The universe looks after this sort of thing in a big way. Save yourself the agony! Return the iPod!
Shawn L. Bird 
A baseball mitt disappeared one day and the next day a student was wearing it, the previous owner’s name crossed out with permanent marker and in a new location the new owner. Some students want something so bad they risk much to take it but do not think about consequences or kharma. Good luck in your search.