There is a very nice letter to the editor this week about a search for a missing Bible. Although the Bible was eventually found, the letter writer expressed appreciation to Jeff Sylvester of the Recycle Center, who went above and beyond in the search.
I’m not surprised. I’ve known Jeff since we were both kids in junior high. He was a nice guy then and went on to become a firefighter and first responder, serving our community in a variety of ways.
Fortunately Jeff is not a rarity in this community. I was reminded of that a few weeks ago when I also thought I lost something special. My missing item was much smaller than a Bible. It was an earring—a lovely emerald earring with a tiny diamond facet. And what made it even lovelier is the fact that I had received the earrings from my thoughtful husband, Chuck, as an anniversary gift.
I was startled when, sitting at my desk on a busy Thursday morning, the back of my earring suddenly fell onto my desktop. At first I was just surprised that my earring had come loose. It is a post earring and usually is nestled snugly into my pierced ear. “How odd,” I thought and rolled back my office chair to see where the earring itself had fallen.
It was nowhere to be seen. “Hmm…perhaps it fell down my blouse,” I thought. I went to the restroom to shake out my shirt and do a little body search. No earring.
I was starting to worry a little bit. When had it fallen out? I crawled around on the floor around my desk and walked slowly around the office, investigating every spot or crumb on the carpet. No earring.
Then my friend and coworker, Bill, suggested that I had possibly lost it at the radio station. On Thursday mornings, I visit with the folks on WTIP Community Radio for a little bit. Maybe I had lost it in the studio when I put the radio headphones on. I called WTIP and instantly had a sympathetic cadre of folks searching the WTIP studio. No earring.
Another friend and coworker, Laurie, helped me take a picture of my remaining earring and figure out how to reduce the size so I could post it as “lost” on Boreal Access, our local internet bulletin board. I retraced my steps and asked people to look for the earring somewhere between the News-
Herald
office, the radio station, SuperAmerica and the Credit Union. No one reported a found emerald earring.
I sadly decided that my earring was lost. I didn’t have much hope that someone would spot a relatively tiny piece of jewelry. I was, however, cheered by the number of people who joined the search and offered encouragement. At least a dozen people reassured me that I would find my missing earring.
They turned out to be right. When I got home that afternoon, I half-heartedly began a search. I really couldn’t believe that an earring back could stay stuck to a person’s ear for all that time. I couldn’t have gone to the office, the radio station, gotten gas and cashed a check without losing the earring back—could I?
Well, apparently I could. When I retraced my steps to my bedroom, I found the earring on the floor right next to my bed. It must have come undone when I dressed for work.
I felt a bit foolish. I shouldn’t have raised such an alarm without doing a more thorough search. I sent out e-mails to my helpers and added an “earring found” notice to the Boreal bulletin board—and I was amazed at the caring response. Everyone was delighted that my earring had been found.
In the ensuing days, I had a number of people walk up to me to look at my ears, to see if the missing earrings were in place. “You found your earring!” they would say.
It makes me smile to think how many people are as sentimental as I am. I didn’t just find my earring. I found that kindness abounds in Cook County.
Have you had
a kindness shown?
Pass it on; ‘twas not
given for thee alone,
Pass it on; Let it travel
down the years,
Let it wipe another’s tears,
Till in Heaven
the deed appears,
Pass it on.
Henry Burton
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