Theft Therapy

Hi,

I left the house this morning to find that my car had been broken into and my car cd/mp3 player stolen and all the CDs in my glove compartment.

The discovery was only a few hours ago and I am feeling a whole range of emotions; anger, frustration, violation, apathy. More than the fact that it’s going to cost me to get a new radio, I hate the fact that someone was in my car. At the moment, I hate them with every fibre of my being. I realise this is a common reaction.

I thought that maybe sharing it with you and hearing your own experiences of theft might help me in my rehabilitation.

With thanks,

Ben

donate a pint of blood to the red cross…

and if you can’t find the criminals who did it, donate your own…

-Imp

Ben, don’t be mad. The more attached you are to your assets, the more you will suffer when you see them wasted. I reckon it is better to have your cd player stolen than to allow someone to steel your conscience. I say forsake your worldly possessions and live the life of an ascet in silent contemplation, with short outbursts of creativity shaping into wise ILP posts.

My 3 month old Inspiron 6000 was stolen before I went on holiday. My housemate left his window open so insurance won’t pay for it. That is painful. All my music, a lifetimes collection was stolen, all my photographs, my writing, everything was on that laptop. It’s a violation to be sure. Somebody came into my bedroom and ransacked my wardrobe, fingering my personal things, looking into places that nobody really looks into. We take our shoes off in our home and they walked through the house (we have cream carpets) with muddy feet, almost as if they deliberately stood in mud before they came in.

I mustered all the evil in the world and sent it through my eyes when speaking (calmly) to my flatmate. I let him know for sure what the consequences of his actions feel like. He promises to buy a new one…

What transpires remains to be seen. For myself, it’s training in letting go. At first it was rape. Then I experienced a loss. Fortunately I got to go on holiday and experience something totally different, I forgot the loss eventually and in fact I haven’t lost anything worth losing, it’s just a thing. Things can be replaced. I call it karma balancing.

I’ve had my car broken into too. Once my radio was stolen, that was crap. The second time I was in it parked at the traffic light in Johannesburg, it was late at night, there was no-one around and some guy smashed my passenger window and reached into the car and stole my handbag, I had just withdrawn my month’s rent and it was in my bag along with ID and other personal things…The thief distracted me by using a street child, my heart wrenched to see the small child begging in the middle of the night only to realise it was a scam…One needs eyes in the back of one’s head in Joburg. Good lesson though, to this day, I’m aware of everyone hanging around the street, I know where their hands are, I know almost instinctively now how many people are hanging around, what they are doing, I look them in the eye - criminals don’t like that, it makes them feel exposed. But you know…these are all the things we learn…

A

I’m sorry to hear it Ben but it’s just your turn today – nothing personal. It was LA’s turn yesterday and tomorrow it will be someone else’s turn. Then it will start all over again.

This is the world we have created by simply letting it exist. I believe crime could dry up to a trickle as soon as we’re willing to spend the same amount of time, money and energy on prevention as we now do on the police/court/prison systems.

When I hear about things like this, I get just as angry at the “system” (our collective stupidity) as I do the low-life perpetrators.

[size=84]PS Nice to see you back LA :smiley:[/size]

Ben,

I would like to suggest that you get pissed off about it, call the insurance company, then tell the story over a beer or two.

Sweet.

A

I’ve never had anything serious stolen but I have been the victim of several unprovoked assaults…

The best advice I can give you is either to stalk the earth looking for the mothafockas who did this or you decide that ultimately at least it was only a radio/mp3 player and CDs, rather than the whole car or more seriously yourself or a loved one.

Regarding the anger I’ve found that beating the heck out of a punchbag or playing football or Rugby, basically anything that will let you burn out your anger and frustration, as well as a drink or more, solves most things of the sort.

Although there are exceptions to a perfect political order, one which would eliminate the conditions in which theft would be neccessary to alleviate the thief’s experience of lower/middle class poverty, drug-addiction, and other catalysts which push him to steal, the efforts to achieve such a political state are not excused because of these exceptions. The argument- “there will always be theft, so the elimination of private property is not expedient,” is nonsense.

It is not the individual thief who is at fault here, it is the authority of the state in its failure to eliminate the conditions which cause theft in general, while at the same time pretending that because exceptions will always exist, efforts to change those conditions are futile.

If you do not support the efforts to establish the neccessary communal state required to abolish the activity of theft, by eliminating private property, you become irrelevent. Your complaint- “hey…that bastard stole my stuff!”- is no more warranted than the thief’s claim that his theft is justified, since both your ownership of the items stolen, and the thief’s lack of material equality to the one from which he stole, are synonomous in the face of the politics which originate those conditions.

My advice to you, at this point, as I am sure you will take no such action in what is neccessary to change the circumstances which generate the social problems which lead to theft, is to become a thief yourself. By doing so you can do your part in instigating and revealing to the state its own dilemma, you will ‘fight fire with fire.’ It is by no means the ideal way to change such circumstances, but the only alternative is to remain part of the problem, and use the very same civil system to compensate you that is creating the dilemma in the first place.

This is what I call a secondary means toward reform- it is essentially the only effort, outside of a organized and sudden seizure of power which would be neccessary to gain total control of the political conditions pertaining therein, that can assist in the disintegration of the problem at hand- private ownership.

I laugh to myself when I see everyone’s reply “kill the bastard,” “find that mothafocka and wup his ass,” etc., etc., while at the same time, had the roles been reversed, each one of you would become thieves yourself.

I do feel, however, that you are excused of the title ‘hipocrit’ because of your ignorance. Yet at the same time, that is no excuse. You are, I’m affraid, an expendible cog at this point.

Which came first, the thief or the lock?

Think about it.

Personally, I have had my possessions stolen several times throughout my life, and I have also stolen things myself. At this very moment I am engaged in a war with the contractor who has refused to pay me the money owed, and has also stolen my tools. I cannot take legal action because the system, as I have explained thoroughly elsewhere, has failed in upholding justice. So, I handle it myself by terrorizing the contractor. At this point my case has developed and I now have two charges pressed against me- ‘communicating a death threat’ and ‘harrasment.’ There are warrants out for my arrest as we speak. In addition to the contractors initial mistake, he has now commited another which will cost him dearly. I have informed the police department that if I am found, and the warrants served, the contractor will suffer threefold, and that the justice system will be responsible for it. The police know that they cannot incarcerate me forever, and that when I get out of jail, if I am indeed captured, I will resume my efforts against the contractor. The system, if I may say, is now in a catch 22 of its own making. :wink:

It’ll make you a better person in the longrun.

Till then… channel the anger. Keep writing down your thoughts.

LA,

Nice to see you back. I have an inspiron 6000 too!

Sweet OG.

I don’t have one anymore. :frowning:

A

Thanks for your words folks, this really is good therapy :slight_smile:

  • ben

I know :frowning:

But you did choose it originally… unless it was given to you, but knowing you I doubt it was.

I chose it. Meticulously.

A

Me too. The deliberation process was quite lengthy.

My desktop.

I’m a nerd and I love it.

You’re also a libran.

A

By Prerna Salla

um…

A

B!

Wow, word association is fun!

Hi Ben,

Given my occupation, I listen to the stolen stories daily. I really only have one observation: let go of it. No one was injured physically, and dwelling on the loss only generates a stomach full of battery acid - for you. The thief meant nothing personal. it is just his job. Wasting time on thinking about it is giving the thief your energy as well as what he stole from you. Move on.

Oh, and don’t ever have anything in a car you aren’t prepared to give away.

JT