Initially when it dawned on me that I'd been robbed, I was furious, but a strange serenity has come over me and I've been surprisingly calm ever since. Thank goodness my insurance covers the minimal damage. Maybe that's why those vile cretins think what they're doing is easy money and not such a morally reprehensible act. I was naive to park on the street instead of in the garage, and I was doubley-tripley-quadrupley clueless to leave my GPS device in my glove compartment, but you live and learn. And as these thoughts ran through my head, I chastised myself for finding ways to blame myself instead of blaming the lowlifes who did this. Yes, it's just a material loss, but my always vivid imagination started dreaming of taking an aluminum baseball bat to the criminal's own property to see how they'd like it. All of this, again, was dancing through my head in the most calm, peaceful, relaxed manner.
Rather than wish death upon the lawbreaker, rather than be stressed out or emotionally distraught over what happened, I'm aware that it could have been worse. They didn't steal my car, nothing of sentimental value was taken, no one was hurt. Instead, I'm peacefully reflective. I'm imagining who this lone vandal is or whether it's a gang of hoodlums. My mind is filled with ideas of karma, the notion that people are eventually rewarded or punished based on their actions, either in this life or the next. Is that superstitious mumbo-jumbo that our collective human psyche comes up with to make us feel better when not-so-nice things happen to us? All I know is that while I'm having these philosophical contemplations, some losers out there made some cash by smashing my car window and stealing something I bought with my hard-earned money. While I spend my precious time tomorrow fixing the damage they did, without any remorse on their part, they'll be out spending their ill-gained money and likely planning to break the law again at the expense of some other unsuspecting person.
Tomorrow, I'll return to my regularly scheduled blog posts. Until then, I sit back and ponder a world a little less kind, a little less gentle than the one I had always pretended it to be.
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KC Redding-Gonzalez
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Comments
"but a strange serenity has come over me and I've been surprisingly calm ever since"
Any unnecessary expenditure of emotional energy just adds to your loss.
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You seem to be handling it as reasonably as possible.
I hope you get your "faith in the goodness of humanity" back quickly. I suspect there is a great deal more goodness in our fellow humans than what the asshole who broke into your car shows.
I remember feeling the exact same way when my friend and I were in Chicago and her car was stolen. But, over time, with little successes here and there, humanity has redeemed itself to me---hopefully the same will happen to you.
Ya can only beat yourself up for so long I think the phrase is "split milk" and learn there are assholes out here and never give them a chance again. Gotta be one step ahead, everywhere, every day.
I am sorry that happened to you, Nick. T
The hard part about theft is that it affects our person,as I was told at the time.
I have had to move several times because of a new job,and at one time,a carton with valuable contents was stolen.
It hurts,but I try to keep in mind a Buddhist monk said when someone had stolen something of his few belongings
"Oh,well,I am glad he found something he needed".
Robbery is not excusable,but in order to keep sane,it is good to adapt to the Buddhist's attitude.
Rated
The baseball bat--yeah, I can relate. Human nature. I have fantasized about assembling an army of Amazons to take on the scourge of mankind perpetrating crimes against women in poor countries, believe it or not. Thinking big, I guess.
Anyway, your impulse to hit the keyboard instead of someone's head is spot-on. Looking forward to more writing...
boo-dah:
"Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation."
(including this damn criminal's crime spree. he will be caught for something. that is beyond certain)
"This is deathless, the liberation of the mind through lack of clinging."
You are on the path, man.
GPS, hah.
Aint worth losing yer equanimity over.
One day,my son,on his way to work,was missing his car.A few days later,the police called him to let him know the car had been located about 400km away.
Tim, it wasn't just a random act, though. The cop I spoke to while filing a police report told me there had been a string of similar crimes on that stretch of road the past two weeks. Someone or a group of someones is making a book off of other people's inconvenience.
Harry's Ghost -- no need to be dick about it. Obviously there are worse things happening in the world. I don't have my head in the sand. But as my wife often tells me, sometimes I'm too naive about things, sometimes I do give people the benefit of the doubt too much. When a crime, however small, strikes close to home, it's a jolt. I always try to intellectualize and look at both sides of an issue, but I think a lot of the world's problems would be solved by more compassion and less self-centeredness, and that applies to the big evil-doer corporations and white-collar scumbags who are ruining our world as well as to the petty criminals who think what their doing isn't a big deal and they have no other choice. I've lived in the Bronx my whole life, I've faced some tough times myself, but I never resorted to stealing or vandalizing to get by.
That's the problem. It's not just a material loss.
Let's say that a windstorm knocked down a tree branch, and the branch broke through your window and smashed your GPS. THAT would be "just a material loss." You would be mildly irritated, file your insurance claim, and forget about it.
I don't want to take the shine off of your new-found "perspective," but what you experienced was a predatory attack that undermined your feeling of personal security. You probably worked for the money to buy that stuff, so what was stolen was your time and effort. And because of thieves, you have to spend more time and effort to buy insurance.
Because of thieves, we have to pay for a justice system and prisons.
In that regard, theft is also an attack on society, and it's part of the reason that all of us have to work the equivalent of several weeks a year to pay for a system that tries to protect us from such predators.
If this were "just" a material loss you never would have written a blog post about it.
If you feel like taking a baseball bat to the son of a bitch who stole your stuff, that is an entirely appropriate feeling. Rather than exercising personal vengeance, we have instituted a system of justice, and we have prison cells instead of baseball bats. But the feeling of wanting to bust up the bastard with a baseball bat is entirely normal, appropriate, and frankly, a smaller punishment than what would have been meted out during most of human history.
Having been robbed a few times can definitely understand the feelings expressed...