06.07.08

Feelings of Violation

Posted in Personal at 10:34 am by admin

Yesterday someone broke into our office and stole my laptop. In broad daylight.

Although Bryan and I have both experienced theft before, multiple times actually, this was different. In this world of technology our entire lives are encapsulated on something like a laptop. It felt like a violation of my personal, physical self that someone would steal every record I have of who I am. All my photography, my design work, my papers for grad school, my poetry. Unfortunately, much of it is lost forever because my last back up to an external source was more than year ago.

I don’t really care about the laptop itself, or the large screen, or the keyboard that were stolen. Mostly I just want someone to give me back the pieces of my life that I’ve ritualistically kept track of on that machine. This feeling of being crippled came as a bit of a shock and surprise. I mean, after all, it’s just a laptop. No big deal. We move on. There’s grace enough for all things. So when I felt as if someone had reached out and physically hurt me, I was stunned.  Last night I curled up on the couch and watched We are Marshall, a story of tragedy and heroism on a much grander scale than what I’d just experienced and I sought refuge in the face of what felt like great personal loss.

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