Nothing chaps my ass more than a thief.

[Laxmastro]

Last night, as I prepared to head to work, I got into my car as usual. I cranked my car, and as usual I reached over to turn on my stereo. ( It has to be turned on separately.) As I reached for the power button, I was surprised when my hand continued to reach through the console. My stereo had been stolen. while my car sat in my driveway the night before, someone came along, got in (for the five years we've occupied our house, I've never locked the driver's door.), pulled the radio out of the dash, clipped all connections, and made off with it.

Now, I only paid fifty bucks for it. I know it's gone. I'm not worried about ever getting it back. That's not the problem.

The problem is this: I have worked hard for what I have aquired over the years. I have spent countless hours, literally, in a hole in the ground, shoveling, to earn the money to support myself and my family, only to have some creep with a habit steal from me, in order (I'm quite positive) to get money for his (or her) next "fix".

I know that my ranting here doesn't solve the problem of theft or drug habits, but I can say that I feel a little bit better about the whole situation having done this. Thank you for listening.

[SimeSublime]

I have to agree with you. Im of the belief they should bring back capital punishment here. But then, if I was in charge, Id be a tyrant. I wanted to kill some stupid kid coz he spat on the window to the train i was riding at the time.

[Laxmastro]

I was watching one of the discovery chanels the other night. The program I was watching was discussing theft deterentd in other countries. In South Africa the cars can be equipped with a device that fills the car with a mixture of pepper spray and mace if the car is stolen. They can also mount a flame thrower on the outside as a "panic" device if you feel threatened by a carjacker. This sort of thing is illegal in the States, but were it not, I would have one. The only drawback is that if the person that is flamed dies, you can be tried for murder.

I would still have one.

[JPSloan]

Many moons ago, I had my stereo and amplifier stolen from my car from my driveway. It was the middle of the night. I heard a crash, and literally by the time it took me to get my robe on and glasses, and get to the kitchen window, there was no trace of them. The cops said that they probably broke into the car, took the merchandise, then smashed the window as they left. Later found out it was a semi-acquaintence of mine who had gone to my church. It wasn't provable, but the word on the street was all I needed. Steps were taken, justice was served...

But that changed my opinion of my neighborhood.

Moved into a different neighborhood, one back towards the center of the city in an area that had been a bad area but was on the rebound. Cheap property, lots of young families, old oak trees and war-era houses with hardwood floors and millwork. Nice. Had a lawnmower stolen from my carport.

So recently I moved in with my girlfriend in the nice part of town... expensive apartments in a gated community. And while it wasn't a huge monetary loss, she had her ficus tree stolen and broken and tossed in the dumpster. What kind of worthless piece of donkey crap would take someone's ficus tree from their front door, snap it into pieces and huck it into a dumpster? Being witches, we were upset to say the least. Again... steps were taken.

So, I guess I'm with you when you say that it isn't the value of the stuff, or even the stuff itself... it's that we make decisions to work, produce, hurt even... to make a living. We don't make the decision to sponge off everyone else, to leech, to steal, to become consumers. It's a decision people have to make, I suppose. Whether we should be parasites or hosts.

Since there will always be the parasites, I guess anyone who wants to earn their own way has to accept that they will support people who take and take and never give back. Stinks, but that's life.

Oh, and flamethrowers on cars? Hell yeah.

[Laxmastro]

Sloan, you keep saying that steps were taken.

Every time I read that I get a chill.... kind of...

[JPSloan]

I'm one to believe that there is balance to be found in the universe. Sometimes people upset that balance. The universe tends to correct itself over time. Sometimes it chooses you to be the instrument of karma. Just sayin'.

[SimeSublime]

I remember the last time I was the instrument of Karma. Wasnt pretty.

[Uncaringmachine]

Ha. I too was the victim of a stolen cd player. I vaguely heard dreamlike knocks on my apartment door one night, but went back to sleep. In the morning I turned on my cell phone and saw that I had a message. Upon listening, I came to find out it was my brother calling me(he lived there too, but was at work) to tell me that someone had broken into my car that night and taken my stereo. So I put on some shoes and went outside and there it was. My Explorer with a shattered window and no cd player. The funny thing is I had three cd cases with 150 cds in each one in the car too. But they were still there, opened, lying on the floor! I guess they didn't like my taste in music. Heh. I moved a few months later.

[Cope]

If a story is told in a forum, and no one is around to read it, is it really told at all?