One of the oldest displays of why people suck

Yes you guessed it. Of course I'm referring to theft. I believe murder would be a close second perhaps, but I'm inclined to believe people were stealing before killing each other, if even in the simplest forms (food, water, resources, females, territory, etc). Although it's not hard by any means to imagine stealing leads to murder.

Anyhow, I digress. One of the reasons humanity sucks in general is that since the dawn of man there have always been THIEVES. There are many motivations and reasons why people steal whether it's poverty, opportunity, jealousy, greed, etc.

The fact remains is that when people steal, there is always a victim. Now, I'm not going to sit here and sound holier-than-thou and say I've never stolen in my life; I have. However, I have never stolen anything "serious" like cash money, cars, electronics, belongings, etc.

Recently, my mother's house was broken into. My mother and her fiancé had left town for a week, and during that time someone had broken in and stolen two of their TVs. Usually, you only hear about these things after the fact, but this was truly strange, and anger- inducing. I actually was supposed to stop by the vacant house and pick up a bag of stuff my mom left for me a few days before. I work around the corner and figured I would stop by on this particular day to pick up said bag. When I pulled up, I see a police car and a crime scene unit van. Immediately, I put 2 and 2 together and knew what happened: they'd been robbed. They always had very nice things and lived in a great/ritzy neighborhood, and I always thought perhaps it was only a matter of time until they were hit.

When I walked up, my brother (who was contacted to arrive on scene to secure the place) was already outside pacing around. I peered inside and immediately felt sick to my stomach. The giant flat panel TV was missing as was another TV in the bedroom. In the scheme of things, that's all they made off with, and left countless other valuables, so in a sense my mom and her fiancé "got off lucky". However, just knowing the feeling that someone was in MY MOM'S house, and went through everything, throwing shit all over the place with disregard didn't sit well with me. It's hard to describe the emotions you feel when someone has tread into your (or a loved one's) house/territory and you see it first hand. Someone who was not invited or welcome came into your home, went through your stuff, and took whatever they wanted and selected.

Nothing could be more angering than that. When I was 12, the same thing happened to our house in Town N' Country (for those not local, that's West Tampa). However the police showed up and chased the burglars down and arrested them. This time though, the person was long gone, and left nothing but an open door, and a messy house sans 2 tvs. I can't say enough how glad I am no one was home and no one was hurt.

I really hope they find this guy, but I seriously doubt they will. If they never do find this person, I hope he gets some bad karma his way, like he goes to jail on some other charge, gets raped by a rusty screwdriver and dies of AIDS, or basically suffers some type of slow, horrible death. Stealing is low and basically feels like a kick in the gut to the person, so if you do it, you deserve any bad karma you get. I'll feel bad for a person if they ever broke into my house while I was in it, as they would be catching a hot surprise when they entered my place.

So please people, we know there's always going to be thieves. It's a fact of life. It seems like in today's world you can't anything nice without someone else wanting it for little effort. With that said, make sure you go out of your way to take precautions with your own safety and your belongings, be vigilant, and most of all, be smart and aware of your surroundings. Get an alarm system, and lock your doors and windows when you leave. It's better to be "paranoid" and inconvenienced securing things than to be a victim and coming home to a ransacked house.

Helpful hints and links:
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