Have you ever stolen something?
By rx4life
@rx4life (1930)
United States
February 11, 2007 12:25am CST
Whether you were a child or an adult have you ever taken something that wasn't yours on purpose? Perhaps an item from a store..or something that was left in public and you pretended it was yours?..If you have...does it bother you..do you think of it often..do you find yourself making excuses for it..or if you have done this ...do you just consider it part of living and assume that everyone does it? Do you still do it? Do you find it easy to brush off your conscience? I am always intrigued with the outlook of others on this subject...Where do you stand...have you been a perpetrator...or do you find it unethical and wrong?
7 responses
@sunita64 (6469)
• India
11 Feb 07
The only thing I love to steal is peoples heart,otherwise I have never stolen anything as I consider it unethical and wrong.A person works hard to make things and if someone steals how bad that person might feel, I can very well imagine. So in my life I will never steal anything.
@rx4life (1930)
• United States
12 Feb 07
I love your comment about people's hearts!!! I agree with you..it is wrong and unethical..I am wondering how many people ever feel forced into this type of behavior due to circumstances of need....I stole a tootsie roll from a little grocery store when I was very young..by the time I got it home I was so upset that I took it back...I told the store owner what I had done and he gave me the tootsie roll candy because I had been honest with him, he said. He said he knew I would never do it again..and he was right!!!!
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
12 Feb 07
Yes. It was to my mind stealing. I was about 7 years old and I had money to put in the collection box at church but I didn't I kept it. Did I ever suffer I thought afterwards that I had stolen from God and I was going straight to hell, I made myself ill with guilt and fear I could not eat or sleep so I saved up my pocket money and gave double the amount back. Since that day I have never stolen or taken anything that didn't belong to me.
1 person likes this
@poodieboo (31)
• United States
12 Feb 07
I did the same thing. I was about 6 years old and all the kids in my neighborhood would ride a little bus to church on Sundays - our parents didn't go. There was a small store near the parking lot of the church and sometime we would get off the bus and go straight to the store and buy candy. I am sure we didn't think of this on our own, one of the older kids must have come up with the idea and I knew I was completely confused when we got in trouble for it. Rather than try to teach us anything they kicked us out of church and wouldn't allow us to come back which to this day I think was kind of lame. In no way do I think it is ok to steal but I think kicking a bunch of little kids out of church is a missed opportunity to teach a lesson.
1 person likes this
@ossie16d (11821)
• Australia
11 Feb 07
No I have never stolen anything, even when I was a child because I knew not to. Then again, it was probably more fear of what would happen when I was found out, as I was certain to be. We were encouraged to ask for things that we wanted and if it wasn't possible to have them, then we were told. As one of a large family, we accepted that money wasn't plentiful and we never really lacked for anything that we needed.
With our son, he was bought up in the same way. He knew from a very young age that he had plenty of love, time from both of us and we would always see that he had all the things that he needed. However we always said that did not mean things that he wanted and did not need.
I do however know one woman who steals anything that isn't bolted down, regardless of who owns it. She is the sister of a friend, so for a long time I said nothing much but once when we returned home from holidays I noticed that some things of ours were missing. Then I had to say something and sure enough our friends found them at her sister's place. That woman has no conscience about it at all I am certain, because she still steals stuff, only not from us anymore. Stealing is a criminal offence and an invasion of someone else's territory if it is taken from their home.
@ossie16d (11821)
• Australia
13 Feb 07
Actually I took the rather drastic step of etching the initials onto everything that we have, so if this woman does come around, and something goes missing I can easily say it is mine. Now she will have to look hard to find most of them but I know where they are. LOL I do not recommend that everyone does this, but is does work for me and sometimes we do have to take drastic steps to retain what it rightfully ours. It got so bad that I ended up hiding away some things that our son had bought for us, because I would have been extremely upset had they gone missing.
It was good of you to take the item back and for the shop keeper to give it to you. He certainly was very smart and you quickly learnt a very valuable lesson.
Thanks very much for giving me best response for this discussion too. :)
1 person likes this
@rx4life (1930)
• United States
12 Feb 07
I, too , have an acquaintance with this problem..she has no conscience and a certain air of entitlement..like she is owed something from everyone..she always acts as though if you have more than her that naturally entitles her to something of yours!! It is beyond my scope of understanding..but since she is closely associated with family members I can't ban her from my house...so I watch and am careful of never leaving her alone in a room...for a long time I felt guilty about that...and I took it on as my flaw...perhaps accusing her without actually catching her..so as many more things disappeared during her visits over the years I have come to know it is not me...it is her and her lack of compassion and respect. It certainly makes it hard on the circle of friends...As you may have seen in a response above..I stole a tootsie roll from a mom and pop store when I was 7 years old ...I definitely knew better and took it back...he forgave me and gave me the candy..his assurance to me that he knew I would never do it again was encouraging and was firmly planted in my brain!!! I can still remember the feeling in my stomach when I did it...which is why it is so hard for me to understand those that do this regularly and without conscience!!!
@patgalca (18366)
• Orangeville, Ontario
12 Feb 07
The only thing I remember taking (besides the St. Vincent de Paul collection money) was a pair of denim jeans for Skipper, Barbie's little sister. My Skipper had limited wardrobe and the jeans were so cool. When I played Barbies with my friends we had tons of stuff spread out over the backyard so it was easy to take something that didn't belong to you. I still have those silly jeans!
As a teenager a friend and I switched the price tags on a pair of jeans in an attempt to get a lower price. This was long before bar codes and security devices. The cashier looked at the price and said, "I don't think this is right" and went and checked the others on the shelf. So we were kind of caught. She didn't know we did it, but we didn't get away with it either.
1 person likes this
@kingcheeko (405)
• Bermuda
16 Feb 07
Yup...i have stolen many things...and i dont regret any of it...and i have had things stollen from me...so i guess..what ever comes around, goes around...but im ok with that....i give props to whoever stole from me...a great theif is one who never gets cought!
@alexiaagulto (59)
• Philippines
15 Feb 07
I have stolen money from my parents. And i don't know why im doing it. Coz my allowance is not enough to satisfy my needs. I hope I've never learned that trait coz it's really bad.
