Tuesday, March 17, 2009

My Shepherd Book Moment

I watched a man steal a bike tire this morning.

Just watched.

I kept wanting to do something, to confront him about it…but I just couldn’t.

Because what would happen if he instead turned to steal from me? I had my iPod on, & my computer in my backpack. I know from a conversation that sets of bike tires are about $150. And while that’s an unpleasant amount of money to have to shell out, my electronics carried a much higher replacement value.

And what if he was armed? Not that I saw anything to indicate he was, but what if he had some weapon concealed? What would I have done then? I would lose my stuff & possibly have to deal with some medical costs if I was hurt…and I don’t have insurance or the money to pay for help.

There’s no reason to believe that giving money would’ve been of any assistance or deterrence. I was waiting at the bus stop, so there was always the likelihood of coming back to take it after I’d left.

There’s no reason to believe that calling the police would’ve been of any help either. I have a hard time believing that they would ever be able to find a man running around with a back tire. And even if they had, what would they do to him? And his life sure wouldn’t improve from being put in jail. (Do we really need another black man trapped in the system?…as if he isn’t already…) They’re not geared towards actually helping anyone who is made to reside in there. So why should I even believe it’d be any better to have him in there than out here?


But it still all bothers me. I could empathize with the man stealing food to eat & the kid vandalizing the bus to knock the system. But stealing a bike tire? That in no way is really going to help him out.


And I wish that I had been able to say something to him about it, rather than just watch him finally succeed at pulling that back tire off.

It’s why it makes me feel a little like Shepherd Book. I remember the scene right after the agent is shot where he talks about all the things he had done in the previous few days that he couldn’t have possibly imagined taking part in while he was still at the abbey.

To a more insignificant way, I’m also feeling a disappointment in not doing anything at any of these times…but also with sense of blurred morality.

Things aren’t so easy to judge “outside of the abbey.”