Stop, Thief!

Today I was a little disheartened because I learned that thieves had broken into one of my bookstores for the second time in a couple of months. This time, they shattered a window and ran off with some money. I was thinking about this in the afternoon, on my way back from the bank. Some people have and some people don't have, but right now we're all supposed to give -- is this why thieves take?

I'd made it about a block when I saw a man wearing a wool hat run out of this great little store with something under his arm. He was being chased by an employee. They began arguing on the street -- the employee was asking for the item back, and the theif wouldn't return it. As I approached them, I realized that nobody else was paying attention to this altercation. I decided to step in. I looked the thief straight in the eye and said, "Are you a thief"?



Lots of things were going through my head. Like, why should we stand for this kind of behavior? In our own neighborhoods, why don't we band together, help each other out, say NO to people who take things that don't belong to them? If we all said, Not in my neighborhood, if we, as reasonable human beings and good people made it clear we won't stand for bad behavior, maybe the thieves would go away.

This thief became increasingly nervous when he saw that there was not just one, but two people watching and following and working together. As we passed by a small Victorian, a young guy opened his front door and asked what was going on. "That man with the wool hat is a thief!" I said. He pulled his hat down over his ears and picked up his pace a little. Then I noticed something: a few other people were following, too. One man was calling the police on his cell phone. We tailed the thief for a few blocks, then I had to veer off and return to work. Ten minutes later, a cop car cruised by.

I guess what I'm saying is this: if we stand up for what is right, maybe we can make our neighborhoods better for everyone. There's many, many more people who are kind and just than there are people who'll take advantage. So don't stand for it!