Goodbye iPad

Syd got an iPad for her 16th birthday gift.

She got permission from her teachers to use it in school; she took notes, downloaded books like The Scarlett Letter, did research. She used it for fun, too; Netflix movies and Facebook. But it was a great study aid for school.

She always kept it close to her, but today in art class the teacher asked the students to move their backpacks and purses to a table at at the front of the classroom. It was art - no need for the iPad. It went, inside her purse, to the table with everybody else's stuff.

And when Syd picked up her purse to leave the classroom, it was gone.

This just makes me sick. It's not so much the loss of the device; it's that somebody in that class betrayed trust and basic human decency and took something that didn't belong to them. It's that my daughter has been violated. She's a victim of crime, although it's simple theft - but there's something about this that just tears at the fabric of trust that every kid ought to be able to have while they're in school.

I realize I'm naive; stuff like this happens all the time, I suppose. I've already heard stories of iPods and phones stolen from the locker room. I hate that for anybody. But somehow, this is disgusting.

Because Monday afternoon, Syd will sit in a classroom with someone who violated her. We may never know who did it, but for the rest of this school year, at least, Syd will have to look around that classroom and wonder.

And the perpetrator? They'll have to look at her and bear the guilt. It might not feel like guilt to them, but it's there.

Not a good day for my daughter. We'll see what tomorrow brings.