Do you know you’re hurting someone?

What are you thinking while breaking into someone’s car?

Do you realize you’re hurting someone who just maybe is facing trials not unlike your own? Someone who has worked hard for what you’re stealing? Or do you just not care?

One of you broke into my housekeeper’s SUV. She’s had access to my home for years and has never taken a thing, though she could easily say to herself, as I imagine you do, “This person is better off than I am, so why not help myself.”

She is not rich, but she gets by with hard work. She is going through a divorce. Her sister has cancer. Then she goes out to her car and finds the window broken, her purse stolen. The money for her lawyer – gone. Checks from clients that were to cover her rent – gone. She’s sobbing, because on top of all her other stress, she just doesn’t know how she’s going to survive this loss.

Let me guess. You’re thinking, “What idiot leaves her purse in the car? She had it coming.”

No! She didn’t have it coming! However foolish it was for her to have left her purse in her car, she absolutely did not deserve this.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Do you know you’re hurting someone?."