Something for nothing.
That’s what people — criminals generally — want when they take something that someone else has worked hard to obtain. The logic of a criminal is something that I’ve never quite been able to understand and probably never will. I’ve never been able to comprehend how someone can ascertain that something I’ve worked hard for can be theirs simply by them taking it from me.
It just seems “right” and more gratifying to take the necessary steps to obtain the things yourself; but perhaps that’s immature and idealistic thinking on my part.
Something for nothing may be what intruders who entered Sean Taylor’s home early Monday morning may have wanted when they fired two shots at him, one resulting in his eventual death. While the details of the case haven’t been released, there’s got to be a reason why someone would forcibly go into the home of another individual and shoot him. At Recorder press time, no motive to the Taylor death was given, but someone had entered and intruded in his home only a couple of weeks prior.
Taylor was a 24-year-old safety for the Washington Redskins, someone who this season had seemed to improve his game as well as his physique before a knee injury that recently kept him off the field.
Some consider the urge to want (and take) something for nothing is a desire deep within a person who is troubled and perhaps even lazy. While I agree, I think the execution of the act itself is a bit deeper. There’s a certain mindset that we all have, as well as a free will to behave a particular way. If all one knows is to steal, then that’s what he or she will do; if the only thing a person understands is to behave disruptively, then more likely than not, that’s exactly in the fashion that person will act.
In other words, we all need teachers. I don’t just mean teachers in the academic sense, though we need those kinds as well; but I’m talking about personal teachers, community teachers, familial teachers. For most of us, we’re fortunate enough to have parents who sort of fit the mold of all of these “needed teachers,” so we turn out leading rather acceptable, law-abiding lives. However, for others who are less fortunate, they don’t have responsible parents, nor other individuals who may be of positive influence to them…these are the people who really need to be in tune with themselves and exercise their basic free will in the appropriate fashion. For some, doing such a thing is achievable; for others sadly, it’s not. The latter are the individuals who generally turn to “alternative” measures to get what they want and need. These are the people whom I like the least.
So, what can we do to protect ourselves from the undesirables who feel they are privileged enough to obtain things by stealing, being dishonest, or without working? That’s perhaps the million-dollar question whose answer is too broad to explain.
Nonetheless, there are a few things that we, as everyday people can do to protect ourselves. We can:
• Associate ourselves with positive people.
• Check/double check our credit reports, bank statements, insurance paperwork, etc.
• Obtain the necessary items to physically ensure our safety. For some people a burglar alarm will suffice, others feel a firearm is the ultimate form of protection.
• Always be mindful of things/people around us.
• Never underestimate the harm someone else is capable of causing us.
• Always report crimes and other wrongdoings (we’d certainly want someone to report a crime that’s happened to us).
For the individuals who feel they’re obligated to the possessions of everyone else, I only have one tip for you:
• Get a job (or two).
