Is it wrong?

The thread, S.O.S. caused me to think about people in dire circumstances.

Too often, people with means fail to understand the plight of those in distress. I’ve heard remarks, i.e., Stealing is stealing. There is no excuse. It is wrong and it against the law.
Or, there is no excuse for violence. They should use peaceful means.

Hypothetical: There is no welfare or help available. You are without any funds. You have two small children who are crying because they are hungry.

First scenario:
You walk by an orchard with fruit hanging on the trees. Would you steal some fruit to feed the kids?

Second scenario: You have nothing to eat. You beg, but people push you aside or ignore you. You know that unless you eat, you will die. There is a warehouse loaded with food. Would you break in and take some food?

Abe,

For me, there's no hesitation...YES to both scenario.

Yes, I would take the apples and give them to the kids , then I would say "Let's go thank those wonderful people for their apples."

I would go to church listen to a sermon and then eat the free meal.
The sermon might be a drag but the food would be hot and tastier than something I had to break in and steal.

Why does this remind me of the quote by Sir Thomas More?

"For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be
corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to
which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded
from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them. "

Some would agree with this. Robin Hood certainly did.
People see him as a hero.

By the way, this has become quite an interesting thread.

To be a thief or die true to yourself? Anyone can say, "I will be true to myself." You will not know your grit until that time comes. I know, I am certain, I will die before I eat human flesh. But, will the madness of hunger be stronger then how I have trained myself?
Perhaps just an ear my dear...you have two.

This reminds me of Les Miserables which began with a man stealing a loaf of bread followed by a long search for this thief, and ended in the death of the policeman who made the search his life quest.

(I hope I have that right. I saw the play twice before I understood the whole story. My grandson had read the book and explained it to me. I love to play the music on the piano. It is a fantastic musical.)

Some stories of cannabalism, such as those whose plane crashed in South America, had to do with eating those who had died.

I would steal the fruit and break into the warehouse.

Carol

I don't think anyone who lives in Northern Nevada and Northern California does not know the story of the Donner party.

I would imagine those in the party never believed they would resort to cannibalism either.


http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CA-DonnerParty.html

It is much easier crossing Donner Summit in the winter nowadays ... with an interstate highway and in a motorized vehicle and snow tires.

Would I steal to feed myself? Well I already have when I was six years old. Life was such that my siblings and I had to survive. In the shops there was food, in our bellys was nothing so the maths were simple. Today if I had no money to buy food for my kids then yes I would do what I had to so they didn't have to go through the things I did. Am I a thief, I was though I do not steal now for there is no need. In life we do what we must to survive no matter how we justify it to our selves.

Quote :

Perhaps just an ear my dear...you have two.

** giggling madly **

I would say yes to both scenarios, also. Back when I was a teenager (many, many moons ago!), I saw the world in black and white. I don't any more. There are so many shades of grey and the lines of "right" and "wrong" get blurred when survival comes into play.

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

Abe,

For me, there's no hesitation...YES to both scenario.

Me too, though with some regret. Self-preservation is allowed in the eyes of a merciful God...

I wouldn't hesitate for a heartbeat in either scenario. Can't imagine why anyone would. Had we been part of the Donner Party, most or all of us would have gotten into the spirit of things.

I can go thirty days on just water.Marri has a bog full of everything we need. Where would you use the pepper spray Marri?

I'd spray it into the eye of a shark and then stab it with my scissors! Sushi anyone?

OOPS! I just realized this is the wrong thread for posting about our survival out in the ocean. Ha!

Alice wrote:

Yes, I would take the apples and give them to the kids , then I would say "Let's go thank those wonderful people for their apples."

I would go to church listen to a sermon and then eat the free meal.
The sermon might be a drag but the food would be hot and tastier than something I had to break in and steal.

I will stand by my aswer---Why?

I was an accountant--had access to money--worked with others who did also.

Two of them had "emergenices" often. I did too. I wrote a check and placed it in the till amd took cash if necessary. They simply took the
cash.

We all got cash--just under different circumstances.

Prisons teach many desperate people who wrote bad checks how to become real criminals. Many bad checks are written with the intent of covering them, with money that doesn't come in, by desperate men and women trying to put food on their table or hang onto their roof.

Sure, it's wrong. People cheat on their income tax. People tell lies. People take home paper and pens from work. People have second jobs that conflict with their first. Where is the line of honesty drawn? I see the elderly at the buffet stuffing bread in their pockets and purses. It breaks my heart.

I know a mother's instinct to protect her young. Food is primeval. The laws of society came after food was no longer gathered as needed. If my child is hungry and I have no legal options, I will steal food. I don't know about food for myself. I fasted for 17 days once, and I learned that water will suffice for a long time and hunger goes away; but there must be access to water.

DK

My checks were not bad checks. They were simply post-dated.

The boss didn't care if we left a note or a check.

One girl was fired.

The other died of a massive heart attack while awaiting the arrival of the cops.

domenic Pappalardo wrote:

I can go thirty days on just water. ...

That is dangerous. Why on earth did you do that?

On just water a person can die within a month or two. If a person does eat again after such a starvation, some of the damage caused to the body would be irreversible.

Quote :

Two of them had "emergenices" often. I did too. I wrote a check and placed it in the till amd took cash if necessary. They simply took the cash.

Am I missing something? I believe there is a significant difference between taking food from a warehouse to sustain life and swiping money from my employer to get through tough times.

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

Quote :

Two of them had "emergenices" often. I did too. I wrote a check and placed it in the till amd took cash if necessary. They simply took the cash.

Am I missing something? I believe there is a significant difference between taking food from a warehouse to sustain life and swiping money from my employer to get through tough times.

You are right--a big difference, but what if they needed the cash for food?

It never got to court, but maybe they were on the verge of starvation.
At least they did not break and enter--just took.

The original scenario

Quote :

There is no welfare or help available. You are without any funds. You have two small children who are crying because they are hungry.

If they had a job, they had funds available!

Not if they spent all of the money and payday is a week away.

Don

You are talking--you are funny and fun.

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

If they had a job, they had funds available!

That isn't always necessarily true. I make too much money from my job to get assistance, yet I have so many medical bills that I live paycheck to paycheck, often having to use credit cards (which I hate because it doesn't help in the long run) just to keep my head above water.

No, I'm not starving by any means, and I'm not trying to paint a desperate picture of my life here, but I drive a 13-year-old car and often have to choose between eating more costly foods or Top Ramen or bread for a week so I can purchase medication.

I have stolen a roll of toilet paper from the restroom at my work because I had none in my home and couldn't afford to buy a roll. I choose not to have a phone so I can have an internet connection. Some folks would say, cancel your internet service and buy food, silly woman!!! To which I respond, there are many things I can live without (and do), the internet is not one of them. A home phone I can live without.

We have a modern day exaple of desperation and society breaking down in full public view with Hurricane katrina in New Orleans. I have been to some of the areas where the so called looting took place when people raided stores for food. Sure there were some opportunists taking other merchandise, but folks taking food to eat were lumped in with criminals. Everything in those stores was going to spoil and stranded people need food to survive after rightly expecting massive help from government resources since major interstate highways go through the heart of the city.

If we every saw a mass breakdown of society and what desperation will drive people to do, we had it there.

www.DTPollard.com

www.TARPTownusa.us

Merri,

If you'd get over your fear of me you could come by my house and I would give you toilet paper.

I will gladly replace the roll you "stole."