Lost Phone

My son is sad.

What was supposed to be a school fun day at the Hermon turned out to be a crushing disaster for him. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt in any way, but what started out as wonderfully fantastic day of fun, ended in gloom and tears. See, as part of his newfound maturity of attending a dorm yeshiva, he received a cellphone of his own. We limit the calls he can make per month, but as things go here in Israel, it's always best for kids who are away from home to have a phone so we can reach him or for him to call us.

He called at 11 to say what a great time he was having, playing in the snow, seeing the snow-capped Hermon in all it's glory (saying the bracha of "Oseh Maaseh Breisheet" upon seeing it), and I told him, "Have fun, enjoy yourself"

Later on during the day, the ominous SMS message arrived from my wife, "He lost his phone." Obviously, it's only money, and not health, so things are kept in proportion...but I knew my son was hysterically trying to find his phone, and he recruited all his friends to scour the mountain to find the mobilephone in the snowstack.



To everyone's dismay, the phone was in "vibrate" mode, so no one could hear it ringing, as we called it dozens of time in the hope someone would find it. My son tearfully got on the bus on his way back to school, leaving behind his beloved cellphone. In return for his excellent grades and positive attitude at school, we paid extra to get him a "nicer" phone...and since he waited so long to get it, the sadness for him was amplified.

Putting myself in his shoes, I thought back to things I had lost as a kid. A baseball glove, my brand new 10 speed bike was stolen, and in first grade I lost my water-squirt ring that fit in my hand. Of course it's silly, but the pain of losing something when you're younger is still...a reason for sadness.

I envision the phone in the snow.

It's battery is slowly dying and won't be found till the spring (if ever). The next time it snows it will be completely buried. Ive already disabled outgoing calls to it, and it won't receive any more calls as of today. It could be years before it's ever found...and even if it is, will someone try to find a way to charge it, and see my son's MP3 collection on it, or the pictures he took?

The good news, is that we have insurance on the phone, and should have a new one for him in a week or so. He didn't know that at the time...though I doubt it would have cheered him up that much. Being given the responsibility of a owning cellphone meant he's accountable...and as he said, "this hurts me more than you."

I guess human nature is to care about physical possessions.

And even though health is the #1 priority, it still hurts when things get lost, stolen, or broken.

Hmmm. That was a rather melancholic posting. You ever get sad over losing something?

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael