Let’s say you have a watch that you received as a gift on an anniversary decades ago. It wasn’t a Rolex, but it was pretty and it had special meaning. Suddenly, it disappeared. You rack your brains—go all over the house, look in the bathrooms, the kitchen, anywhere you might have taken it off to keep it dry. After a couple of days you give up. How could you have lost it? Or was it stolen by someone who was doing some work in your house? The truth is, I’d rather believe I lost it. I can always buy another one. But If someone I trusted stole it, I feel violated, hurt and betrayed. Stolen is worse than lost, in most cases.
A stolen credit card is far worse than lost. It means someone has found it or taken it from your wallet, and may have charged thousands of dollars before you realized it was missing. Yes, this happened to my husband, but luckily , our card provider thought they were some strange transactions, and notified us before it went too far.
On the other hand, if something is lost, you have only yourself to blame. That’s a little less painful. . My mother died many years ago, but I still use her old wooden cane for daily walks. I have prettier canes, but I wouldn’t care if I lost them. They can be replaced. But if I can’t find my mother’s cane, I panic. The cane gives me a strength and courage that can’t be bought. I have some pretty canes that we’ve picked up in foreign countries and like to use them on special occasions. But they do nothing to lift my spirits. No one would want to steal my mother’s old cane. But once, when I thought I’d lost it, I was devastated.
There’s something unnerving about being the victim of a theft. It means that the thief has no regard for your rights or feelings. They care only about themselves. Is stolen worse than lost? For me, it is.
