So after work today I went for my first run since Sundays' marathon, at the park down the road from work. Upon finishing my last cool down lap, I heard crying coming from a young boy walking through the trees in the park. I started to slow down as I approached his location and as I passed by him he stopped, trying not to make a scene. I comtemplated in my head if I should ask him what was wrong and after about 30 seconds of hesitation I did. He went on to explain hysterically that he had lost his $100 replacement phone, missed his bus looking for the phone, and seemed thoroughly concerned with how much trouble he would be in when he told his mother about his loss. I told him that I would help him look for it and tried to calm him down as we retraced his steps through the water retention basin he had travelled through earlier with his "friends" that he explained would not help him look for his phone. The sun was slowly setting in the horizon and the cold winter air was starting to make this simple kind act a bit of a tedious annoyance. Another woman had previously offered a kind hand to the boy, but had failed to find his lost possession, so I figured that our exploration would once again yield no solution. I decided that the best thing to do was for the boy to get home and come back with his mother the next day to look when it was a bit lighter and warmer. So I told the boy we could call his mother to tell her the situation, even though he kept claiming that she doesn't answer the phone for number she doesn't know. After failing to reach her on the phone, I called the local police department for they were the only solution to the situation. The boy kept saying that all he needed was a ride home, but in todays world when a simple act of kindness can quickly turn its back on you and get you in trouble for assisting a young innocent boy with no parental approval, this clearly was not possible. I had told the boy that he should try going back to school to see if the teachers could assist him, or going to his friends house because their parents should be able to give him a ride home or reach his mother, but he would not listen to those options. "No one will be at the school," and, "My friends won't let me into their house. They wouldn't even let me in to use the bathroom the other day," were his answers to my suggestions. So I called 311, Las Vegas's local dispatch who connected me to the park police who sent the Marshall out to come give the boy a ride home.
In todays world, where a simple act of giving a lost child a ride home is no longer a good idea, it truely proves that the good samaritan no longer is able to exist.
And on another note, the idea that the 11 year old had once again lost his cell phone proves the point that child don't need them!! Unless they are able to pay for that phone and the monthly bill that comes with the responsibility of owning a cell phone, they shouldn't be given one.
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