“You must not lose
faith in humanity.”
Gandhi

I have always considered the Santa Clara CalTrain Station parking lot to be a safe place to park a vehicle. The headquarters of the Santa Clara Police Department is located directly across the street from the north end of the lot. Santa Clara University is across The Alameda to the west. A small business area with a bagel shop, sandwich shop, and Starbucks sits to the south of the lot. The CalTrain station and tracks are to the east. I’ve parked my car there many times without concern for the safety of the vehicle.

It was a little after 10:00 a.m. when I parked my car in this lot one week ago today. I paid the daily fee for parking, then walked across the street to the campus of Santa Clara University. After a number of brief meetings, I returned to my car around 2:00 p.m. I was a bit disheartened to see, upon my return to the vehicle, that the trunk was partially open. I had left my backpack, containing my computer and day planner, inside the trunk. There was also a box containing a number of my recently-published books. My stomach sank.

Apprehensively, I lifted the lid of the trunk. Much to my surprise, everything was there — my backpack, computer, day planner, and books. I breathed a sigh of relief, but I was curious. Why was my trunk open? Then I noticed that the driver-side door was unlocked, as well. Again, everything inside was as it should be. Only then did I realize that what probably happened is that after parking the car in the morning, as I walked away, preoccupied with the purpose of my trip to the university, I inadvertently hit the trunk release button on the remote rather than the lock button. That would explain almost everything.

What is still difficult for me to comprehend is how a car with an open trunk in a public parking lot could sit untouched for four hours. Yes, I consider the lot to be a safe place to park, but my inattention that morning had certainly created what one might describe as an attractive opportunity. 

I am a firm believer that the world is basically good, with a presence of evil, rather than what seems to be the more commonly-held belief that the world is basically evil, with a presence of good. My experience at the Santa Clara CalTrain Station last week was a good reminder to me that we must never lose faith in humanity.