A Personal Blog - Part 2 - Theft & Destruction

nb. This is not a sob story, and I expect no sympathy. The consequences of my choices are of my own making. I will live with them. The point of this blog is to get my thoughts and feelings down, so I can reflect on my past. Perhaps others may learn from it.

I don't know exactly when it began, but the first theft I can recall, I committed at around the age of 8. Silly age I know, but it leads into a bigger picture.

If I can recall correctly it was while we were out at the grocery market. My parents had wandered into the next isle, and I was looking at all the new pens in the stationary section. Why pens you ask? I have no idea. They were just interesting.

Knowing full well it was stealing, I grabbed a pen off the shelf, ripped open the packet and pulled out the pen. I think mainly I was curious, but my step father didn't see it that way. I got a clout around the ears, and dragged out by the scruff of the neck. Straight to the car, and got an ass whooping when I got home.

Unfortunately, for the following years I think my brain kind of took it as a challenge. Can I actually steal and get away with it?

From then on, I stole. A lot. Thousands of dollars worth over the years. I wasn't incredibly intelligent about it. I never tried to blame other people when caught; I never had a master plan. I just saw stuff, and wanted it.

By the time I was in my early teens, I had ruined almost all of my personal friendships and relationships through thievery. Looking back on it, it makes me sad to think I hurt so many people.

Unfortunately, there's no changing the past, no matter how much we might want to.

• I stole a camera from a good friend, to make a quick buck
• I stole shoes from a girl I met in a night club, because they were Reeboks
• I stole a discman from a flatmate
• I stole money from my parents
• I stole science equipment from my school
• I stole clothes from roommates
• I stole food from family & friends

In all honesty, if it wasn't nailed down, it was fair game.

By the time I was 15, I realized school just wasn't for me (more on that in a later blog entry). I hated the teachers; I felt the curriculum was 'lowest common denominator'; the students mostly hated me, and by that stage, I just didn't care. I quit school, and decided it was time to do something more interesting.

I found out about a course near by that was teaching "An Introduction to Electronics Assembly". At the time, this kind of work was quite prestigious. It paid well, and I already had an interest in the field. I'd built many circuits over the years, so this was simple.

After starting the course, I met two other people around the same age as I, and we got along really well. We had similar interests, and as rebellious as can be. We hated authority, and thumbed our noses at it as often as possible. How dare the man try to keep us down.

The building where the course was held, had a vacant floor on the next story up that was unlocked. We decided it would be a cool place to hang out. At one point over the times we were there, one of the low hanging ceiling tiles got broken. Not entirely sure how, but it set off a chain of events.

First, we saw the tile was made of simple particle board. Easy to break.
Second, we took turns breaking it up, so see how difficult it was.
Third, we wondered how many of the tiles were as easy to break.
Fourth, we egged eachother on to try and break another one.
Fifth, we all broke one each.
Sixth, we thought it was great fun, and broke hundreds in quick succession.
Seventh, we got phone calls from the Police, and our Parents were informed.

You can see where it goes. Fines and a stern talking too, plus the cost of the damage.

As you can image, we were all kicked out of the course.

Funnily enough, we never spoke again.

By this time, money was getting tight, and theft just wasn't cutting it. Time to get a job.

See you in the next blog post!