This past Tuesday I came home from lunch to discover my apartment had been broken into. One of the few things they took was my new MacBook Pro.

But this week hasn’t been just rough on me. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in California wildfires. And many bloggers have lost a reliable income stream as Google has lowered the page rank on many blogs. One blogger I’m aware of even closed a blog because of it.

So what can one do to appreciate when the hard times have come along? In short, it’s to look at what can and is being done.

The Robbery Aftermath

When I reported my apartment break in, the maintenance people were as pissed off as I was and had my door repaired within the hour. The cops showed up within half an hour and my State Farm representative started my case that same day. The apartment complex I was staying in even went door to door to warn people to keep a look out for suspicious activity.

My friend Bes was kind enough to write about the theft, and numerous other bloggers I knew helped Stumble and Digg the post.

When I called Apple to report the serial number of my laptop, they expressed their sympathies and wished me luck on getting the laptop back. I called CompUSA and Mac Resource and they both agreed to keep a look out for the machine.

Mac Resource was going to charge me a five-percent re-stocking fee for canceling my Leopard pre-order, but waived it when I told them why. My bank also waived numerous fees when I asked to do a stop payment on some of my checks and placed a fraud alert on my account.

My boss at work was very sympathetic and gave me administrative leave to take care of the issues. This gave me time to do the police/insurance work and do damage control (changing all my passwords) after the theft.

And then there was the State Farm guy who processed my claim quickly and had a check in my hands after only five days.

Appreciation Opportunities

Then there’s the appreciation opportunities that come by when hard times come through. As I picked up my police report, I noticed two Mexicans who were wanting to pick up their vehicle from the police. However, the lady who could help them didn’t speak any Spanish. I offered to help translate. I didn’t get their car back for them, but at least got through to them what they needed in order to eventually pick up their car.

Also, as a result of getting robbed, I got to meet most of my neighbors, who are actually really nice people.

Conclusion

During hard times, it’s difficult to appreciate and easy to feel like a victim. However, there are plenty of opportunities to observe appreciation and to give out goodwill during these hard times.

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