My bike was stolen today. For the fourth time. Not four times for one bike, but this is the FOURTH bike that’s been stolen from me in the past five years. They’ve been taken from my apartment after the landlord left the door unlocked, from my front porch twice and now from the third floor of a supposedly locked, residential parking garage.
Two of those times, the bike wasn’t locked up. I thought it was safe both in the parking garage and right outside my front door, but my trust in either people or the difficulty in discovering the bike was wrong. Maybe I’m naive. Maybe I should have lived in a hippie commune. Maybe I’m being punished.
This last time made me realize that it’s not enough to do right in this world, you must prevent wrong. Giving to charity is good, but teaching children that stealing is wrong is also required. Being courteous to those less fortunate than you is nice, but admonishing those that do not is necessary. Not stealing is good, but preventing your stuff from getting stolen is necessary.
This thinking applies to just about every aspect of life. The more we focus on the positive without considering the negative, the harder it gets.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. All that is necessary for mediocrity to triumph is for the talented to say nothing. All that is necessary for…you get it.
It was nice living in a bubble of trust and goodwill. It’s become painfully obvious that bubble is broken beyond repair.
