There isn’t always time to right the wrong you do, but if wiggle fast enough, you might save yourself from the consequences which might lay ahead. This news is not horrifying compared to the top major topic that has been the first title of every blog or report, the COVID-19. On the contrary, it brings some sort of satisfaction to hear such a story.
On a very ordinary day, The National Roman Museum received a kind of peculiar package from an American tourist. The package contained a rock with a short message scribbled on the bottom along with a written letter stating the sender’s remorse of having taken the historical item.
This rock was not just any ordinary rock. It was a piece of marble from ancient Roman ruins. The unanimous writer of the letter did ask the museum for forgiveness. They wrote from Atlanta and said “Please forgive me for being such an American a**hole. I took something that was not mine to take.”
This rock, however, was not untouched. It seemed that the sender had tried to carve something on the rock, something like “To Sam. Love Jess. Rome, 2017.” The sender added that they felt shameful for acting like this and ruining the rock’s value, perhaps forever and though they did try to remove the scribble in pen, they were not successful.
Stéphane Verger, the museum’s director, told the Italian news outlet that this unprompted act of regret may have been because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is a spontaneous gesture, but the fruit of conscious reflection. Maybe being cooped up by the coronavirus pandemic jogged their conscience.”
The marble is back now in its fair place and lets us hope that the person has learned their lesson and next time, they will go directly to the gift shop.