By
Rasha Almaqaleh
Carnival is a popular
Catholic festival which is held every year in all parts of Italy during the
period of February to March. People celebrate in the streets walking in beautiful
parades, wearing masks and funny costumes. They also eat special dishes and desserts. We were lucky to attend one of those celebrations in Rome with some
friends.
On that day,
while I was taking some photographs of the festival, I accidentally saw two young
men standing next to each other. Then, to my surprise, one of them put one of
his feet on something lying on the ground, and the other was looking around to
make sure that no one was watching. The first bowed to the
ground and picked up the thing so quickly. I had a chance to look at it and I
found out it was a smart phone! Then, the two young men walked away!
At that moment, I
got confused and I did not know what to do. Obviously, someone lost their smart
phone and I saw the person who took it. All I managed to do was to ask our
friends to check their cell phones. They did, but nothing was missing!
So, I forgot the
whole thing and got involved with the festival. The parade was about to leave
the celebration area to a larger one. People headed to their cars or to the buses
that brought them. Then, I saw an African lady crying. She refused to get on
the bus saying her cell phone was missing! She wept while saying it was a brand
new Galaxy S-4 that cost a fortune! The woman was definitely collapsing and I
felt kind of guilty and responsible. I
darted towards her and told her about the two men who took the cell phone off
the ground and that I accidentally took some pictures of them. I showed her the
photos. We looked around but the place was almost empty because everyone left.
I told her that there was a good chance the two guys already moved with the
parade to the larger square. The lady felt hopeful and we immediately got on
the bus and headed over to the big square.
Once we arrived there, the lady and I started searching for the two men.
It wasn’t easy at all as the square was really big and full of celebrating
people and their children. After half an hour of the thorough search, I saw one
of them! He was standing with a group of girls and guys. They were all talking
and laughing. Fortunately, there was a police car nearby and there were some
policemen standing next to it and chatting. We rushed to them and told them
what happened. One of them came with us and asked us to show him the person. I
pointed at the man and the policeman went directly to him. The finder was
puzzled when the police officer came to him and gently pulled his arm to get
him out of the group. He thought it was about the gun he was holding, so he
explained to the policeman that it was just a toy gun and that it was a part of
the costume he was wearing. The policeman told him about our claim and the man
was stunned. He was embarrassed. Then, he put his hand into his pocket and
grabbed the cell phone. He handed it over to the policeman and said that they
weren’t thieves! They just found the cell phone on the ground and they were
about to announce this! The policeman
then took the cell phone and gave it to its owner, the African lady. She bent
at her knees in front of me and burst into tears, expressing how thankful
and grateful she was for my help.
What really
annoyed me was the policeman’s reaction afterwards. He was keen to explain to us the
difference between ‘steeling’ something and ‘finding’ it! For me, He was just defending
a wrong act depending on technicality. I knew for sure that those who took the
cell phone weren’t planning to return it despite their claim. They would have
never given it back , if we hadn’t got them. I truly wonder what if
it were the opposite; if an African person found a cell phone and kept it for themselves,
and an Italian guy went to the policeman to complain about it. Would the
policeman side with the African and justify that taking something which doesn’t
belong to you is different than steeling it?! Would he depend on technicality to
describe the situation or would he just judge by stereotypes and prejudices?!