Massimo Pigliucci

And suddenly I feel this guy right in front of me near the entrance is kind of pushing back very, very hard as if the subway were overcrowded.

But it wasn't overcrowded.

I mean, there was a little bit of people, but not enough to justify that kind of behavior.

So the first thought was, what is this guy doing?

And before I realized what in fact he was doing, it had already happened.

This guy had a friend, an associate behind me who, while I was distracted with the physical pressure of the other one pushing back on me, just...

picked my pocket, right?

So the wallet was gone.

And by the time I realized that that's what was going to happen, it took a fraction of a second, but it was too late.

Already the two were out of the subway, the doors were closing, and that's it.

I was all of a sudden without a wallet.

Now, had this happened years ago, I would have been really upset.

I would have been angry, both of myself, for being so stupid.

It's like, you know, I grew up in this city.

I know that these things happen.

I was in a particularly touristy area of Rome.

So, of course, these things happen.

You know, again...

briars and cucumbers right why why would you expect not not that not to happen um i was angry and myself i was angry at those two people it's like how dare they you know violate my person and my my my property and so on and so forth so i it would have been a normal reaction be upset to be angry uh to be dejected afterwards once you realize what you know the consequences that action etc etc

And to my surprise, instead, the first thing that came up to my mind was, what here is up to you and what is not up to you?