We live in a world that is rife with crime. I suppose that it has always been so since the earliest days of mankind. There have always been those that feel the world owes them a living or that since they are stronger, they should have whatever they want.
Some of the powerful take what they want, but they also feel a responsibility towards those they take from. In time they would offer their protection against other powerful, thieving bastards for your loyalty. They all became what we know now as royalty. This was the beginnings of the feudal system. We (my forefathers and yours more than likely) would be the property of the Lord who would provide us with housing, clothes and food. In return we would make those same homes, weave the cloth and grow the food for the Lord which he would allow us to keep enough of to survive.
This system went on for thousands of years. There must have been a point where one Lord decided that if he paid us, we would still have to work for him but instead of allowing us to keep a portion of our labours, we would pay him for the homes, clothing and food. Nothing really changes, except we call ourselves free and the Lord gets wealthier. Well, it wouldn’t have taken too long before the other Lords followed suit which led to monarchy and eventually to capitalism. Ain’t history grand?
There is little to be done about that, but what about the actual thieves and scumbags that take from you and I. We work hard to get what we have and for some reason these people feel that they can and should take whatever they want. The police try to stop them, but there are so many and the legal system just keeps putting them out on the street. What we call punishment no longer seems to be an effective deterrent. Over the years our comfort zone has been getting smaller and smaller.
When I was a boy we never used to lock the house except when we went on vacation and then only the front door. The keys to the car were always in the car. Churches were always open to anyone that needed to pray day or night. No one had bars on the windows and the “security system” would be the family pet. I am not sure whether there were fewer morally ambiguous people back then or perhaps none of us had anything that was worth stealing. Hell, even if you did steal something there just wasn’t a market for it.
Now, with online “stores” like eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji you can sell your stolen item without anyone asking any questions in a matter of hours. I wonder why the cops don’t pick people that are selling items at random and make sure that what they are selling actually belongs to them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the police are stretched to thin as it is, but surely there must be a way.
A buddy of mine needed a transmission for his truck a couple of years ago and searched high and low for one. New they were far too expensive and used just didn’t become available very often. He did find one and it was a cash sale. The price was in line with the going rate for used transmissions, so my buddy just thought the seller was trying to avoid paying taxes. It was about six months later that the garage where he bought it was discovered to be a chop shop. What the hell! You would think that if it were stolen my friend would have gotten a better deal. Not only were they thieves, but they were gouging, thieving businessmen as well. Bastards!
I have mentioned that I am in the market for a new or gently used computer. Ideally I would like a MacPro with 2-quad core, 8 GB RAM and at least a terabyte hard drive, or a similarly equipped PC. Now, I am not suggesting anyone go out and steal one, but if you happen to find one in the back of your car and you want to get rid of it cheap, give me a call at 1-800-NO-MORAL.
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