Stolen bikes

There's no clearer proof of the existence of people who suffer a total lack of empathy than those who take the result of others' hard work without remorse.

It is true, life is tough. It has been like that since the very beginning. Being a species on this planet requires one to have a flawless streak of surviving predecessors and the will to do whatever it takes to stay in this world. There was a time when this meant being aware of predators, take the changes of the merciless weather, gather some food, and outlive the competitors. Today it also means surviving the cruel capitalist system and obey man made laws or not get caught by the judicial system.



Any given random bloke is born under certain circumstances under our system, and, yes, climbing up the ladder of the social pyramid is not easy at all especially if one is in the lowest floors. But that doesn't mean that one should be nice to others, does it? 

I've been thinking about this because just recently one of my best friends got mugged and her phone and her just bought new bike was stolen, the very same day she bought it! Her birthday! What a way to celebrate...

Of course I don't know the perpetrator's conditions but I can't but think that that was wrong and low. Fortunately she is doing fine and she wasn't hurt, I can even say that taking the bike and the phone from her is not even a bad thing. But what it is terrible is the fact that one doesn't know when someone is going to be willing to do some harm just to take some material property.


I believe we shouldn't be worried of members of our own society. I'm not a philosopher and I'm certainly not a 100% deontologist but I like Kant's idea on the categorical imperative: always act in such a way that you can also will that the maxim of your action should become a universal law. What I get from this is that one should do as one would like others to do. This exact same statement is even in the Bible! Quoting Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Agreeing that this is what we would call a good thing, and following Thomas Aquinas's synderesis principle as stated in his Summa Theologica "that good is to be sought and done, evil to be avoided" I think is pretty much clear that stealing bicycles is not the moral thing to do.




Personally the worst part for me is that I feel complete and utterly useless when something happens to my friends that live on the other side of the world because I cannot help them. So yes, do act as Captain Steve Rogers would but remember that not everybody is following the same moral code. Take care.