And remember Our servant Job,
when he called to his Lord,
“Satan has afflicted me with hardship and suffering.”

[…]

And We restored his family,
and their like with them;
as a mercy from Us and a reminder for those of understanding.

The Qur’an - 38:41-43
(Translated by Safi Kaskas)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My backpack was stolen the other night. Brand new Osprey with my phone, keys, and wallet. Went surfing at sunset and when I got in at dark it was gone. At least they left my sandals…

I was pissed. I got all, “Woe is me,” “I hate people,” “The world has gone to shit,” and I couldn’t sleep thinking about how much money and effort I’d spend replacing those things.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, while studying the Book of Job, philosophizing over why bad things happen to good people. As I lay in bed steaming I reflected on all Job went through, losing everything, including his children and health. I, on the other hand, only lost a few material things that could easily be replaced, caused nothing more than inconvenience that would pass within a few days. (I’m even smart enough to keep a spare car key under the tirewell and house key in a lockbox so I wasn’t even locked out.)

I drummed up my “Smile in the face of ____” mantra and filled that blank in with “a stolen backpack.” Then I absorbed a lesson I should have known all along: Don’t be so trusting of random strangers on the beach.

Except, when I went back to the beach early the next morning to look for it one last time, I asked a fireman at the station across the street if he knew of any kind of Lost & Found. Or rather, I prefaced this would-be question with, “It’s likely my backpack was just stolen, bu--”

“Come with me,” he cut me off, leading me into the garage. And there, sitting on a table between two fire trucks, was my backpack. “Some guy brought it in last night thinking it was left behind.” My hatred of mankind immediately melted. “Thank God for good people, huh?”

Yes, well, something like that, Mr. Fireman. Damn overly-ambitious do-gooders, leaving my sandals behind to get washed out to sea and whatnot. Thoughtless bastards…