common sense

my bike was found sunday evening. well, not really found, since it wasn't lost. after being told by american airline's automated voice system that my bike was not yet found, i finally located a live person on the phone..."oh, your bike has been here since saturday morning. we didn't know what to think of it since our discription of your lost luggage said cardboard box, not gray plastic."

i did probe her about the name tag and flight tag on the box, which did in fact offer proof that it had an owner. she apollogized, but couldn't offer me a reason as to why this evidence wasn't enough to prompt the fine people at the st. louis airport to find me and return my box.

i can't help but to believe that, in our age of reliance upon computers and scanners and other electronic devices, we may have left out one very important tool in our fight for life...common sense.