Whats In My Wallet?

Reading the story about the man whose wallet was returned to him was very fascinating. Having a wallet returned to you after forty six years would be similar to reading an old childhood diary. Opening it up would be like entering ghostlike memories, a way of going back in time. What about the people who found the wallet? Would they know that it had been missing for forty six years? Would they guess who the pictures in the wallet were in the mans life? What would people think about me and my wallet?

As we unzip the top of my wallet, the zipper gets stuck on a bunch of receipts. Pulling the receipts out you see the torn up edges, and the coffee stain directly in the middle of the bunch. Three of the receipts are book receipts from the college book store. Looking at these you could figure out a great deal of information about me. You would find out my name is Amanda Goodrich. You could guess what classes I'm taking at the Everett Community College based off my book selection. You would know the last four digits of my Visa number. You would see the dates of when I bought the books, so you would know that I had lost my wallet recently.You would be able to assume I attended full time based on how many books were bought per quarter. You would know this is my second quarter at the college. After sifting through college receipts you would find at least seven library receipts. The ones you get when your checking out books that let you know when your books will be overdue. These receipts would tell you my book preferences, what library I regularly go to, and how recently I had visited that library.

After putting aside all the receipts, you would come across my assortment of cards. On top of the stack is my well-worn library card. After looking through the receipts, and seeing how frayed my library card is, you would probably assume I am a regular visitor of the public library. Following that would come an Oregon State Identification Card. This would give you simple information. I am an overweight, auburn haired, green eyed seventeen year old. It would tell you when I bought the ID card. Looking at the card, you would assume I just moved from Oregon, or that I still live there and I am just visiting Washington. After my ID card would come my Visa debit card. If a dishonest person found my wallet, this would be a very useful piece of information for them. Since it has my account number, name, three digit code, and everything else needed to take money out of my bank account. Last but not least comes my No Blood card. This card tells you the most important information about me. It states that in a medical emergency, under no circumstance am I to be given a blood transfusion, plasma, or any sort of blood product. It would state my contact in the case of an emergency, which would be my parents. It would also name blood free products that I would allow to be used in my body in place of blood. The No Blood card would also give you my current address. After putting all these belongings to the side, you would look in the wallet and find it empty.

I tried to do this assignment as if I was the stranger who found the wallet, and what I believe this person was like. If I was a stranger looking into this wallet, I would assume that the owner spends a large amount of time reading. After looking at receipts and seeing how many books were checked out, I might assume this person was lonely, and isolated. Being a stranger, the No Blood card would baffle me. Without doing any research on the card, I might assume this person is into homeopathic medicine, rather than pharmaceutical medicine. After figuring out that this person is in school full time, I would assume they don't have a job. Then, based off the Visa, I would assume this person lived at home, and her parents were giving her money to live off of.

If this was the evaluation people would have of me and my wallet, they would unfortunately miss a great deal of information about my values. The No Blood card is in there because I am a Jehovah's Witness. As a Jehovah's Witness I do not give or receive blood or blood products. Although you would also rightly assume I am a strong believer in homeopathic medicine. Also, I read a large amount of books, not because I am lonely, but because I enjoy learning. I highly value my education, and I am constantly trying to attain interesting historical facts. Also, the only reason I have a visa is to hold the money from my Pell Grant. My parents do not give me money, because I like to earn my own money. I am not the type of person who likes things handed to me on a platter. Unfortunately these values would be hard to read from my wallet.

After doing this assignment, I felt the need to include a note saying the things that the contents of my wallet could not. I had to stop myself and realize how silly that would be. In reality, the person who finds my wallet doesn't care if I am a spoiled, friendless, hippie or if I am a religious and overachieving college student. The truth is, I shouldn't care what they think of my wallet either, I should just be thankful that they were honest enough to return it to me. Although I must confess, if my wallet is ever lost, I will worry about the person who finds it impression of me and my values. Hopefully, my wallet will never be lost, and stay tucked in between the cluster of pens and pencils in the front flap of my backpack.