Friday an event occurred which discouraged me a great deal. I would like to express my disillusionment not so much in hopes of change but in hopes of a clarification of philosophy.
Around 3 p.m. I was standing in front of the Coop with a friend when a boy reached into my pocketbook (an open canvas bag) and took my wallet. I saw him putting it into his coat and grabbed his arm telling him that I had no money or credit cards and would he please return the wallet. He replied "I don't have your mother-fucking wallet, lady." I told him I had seen him take it, whereupon he handed me a piece of paper which had been inside my wallet and said "Is this what you want, lady?" He then grabbed a friend and they started walking away toward Harvard Yard. I was not about to let him get away that easily with my wallet so I followed them while a friend of mine looked for a policeman.
During this scene there had been 10 or 12 people standing around us in front of the Coop looking on interestedly but not helping. This didn't really worry me too much at this time because the boys (about 16 years old) were headed for the Yard and I was certain that people there would help me. I chased them across the Yard, in tears of frustration by this time, calling for help. I was shouting. "That guy took my wallet. Will someone please help me?" It seems to me that a girl visibly crying in the Yard and calling for assistance should evoke some response. Not one person of the many who were walking through the Yard helped me, though it was fairly obvious that I was distressed and needed someone. I chased the boys all the way to Carpenter Center before somebody finally came to my aid, and it was someone from outside the University-an older man in a three-piece suit with his briefcase. We chased them well past the Center until one of them pulled out a knife saying we had better not follow and they disappeared.
The most upsetting factor about the episode was not that my wallet was stolen and not retrieved, but that not one person in Harvard Yard (and there were dozens, not just one or two) helped me. After I lost the boys and was returning to the Coop a guy stopped me in the Yard and said, "Hey, I saw you chasing these boys through the Yard and yelling. Did you ever get your wallet back?" I was appalled.
It seems to me that there has been much discussion among students today concerning involvement, relating, and relevancy. Friday's experience, for me, negates much of the faith I have had in the ideas of my own generation. The lack of response to my cries for help underlines a hypocritical attitude. What right have students to demand relevancy and involvement from the University or any other organization when they are not willing to respond on an individual basis? It is discouraging that the person who finally helped me was an obvious member of the Establishment we put down so frequently. I am not defending the "old order" but questioning the new ideology. Are we involved with ideas but not their practice and do we care about masses but ignore the individual?
Friday was a disillusioning time for me, but it has made me think. I hope this letter does likewise to those who read it.