Thursday, June 30, 2011

Robbery Lesson

For my first entry in Blogger, I'm going to share a personal story.

It dawned on me that it's been over a year since I was almost robbed in the train. It's crazy because it was also about a week before my son was born. At the time, I was getting out of work at 10 pm. I normally go on about my business and never really paid attention to my surroundings. Typically the trains would still be packed with people but this night was different. So clearly I ignored all the warning signs.

I was on an empty train car. I had the iPhone 3GS in my hand. I noticed from the corner of my eye, these 2 kids (they must have been in their teens) looking at me from the other train car. They transferred to the car that I was in and kept walking to the middle of the train, so I thought nothing of it and ignored them. About a minute later, they both came up to me. While one was trying to take the phone off my hands, the other was telling me that he had a gun. Now I know what you're thinking, you're saying: "Why risk your life over a phone?" Believe me. I'm asking myself the same question.

The only problem was that I wasn't thinking clearly. I couldn't believe that this was actually happening to me. My instincts was to defend myself. The only thoughts that kept circling my mind was my unborn son. About a few seconds after their robbery attempt, the train reached a station and they got out. And I was left unharmed. A week after my son was born, I lost my phone! Coincidence? You tell me. But at least it gave me a reason to get my hands on the iPhone 4.

Lesson: Don't flash anything of value to you. When you're going to ride the train, stick to the area that is more populated. And god forbid, but if you're being robbed, the best thing to do is give them what they want. You can always make up for the loss. Your life is worth more than the object they're stealing. Never take life for granted.