Criminal Physics

Newton told us that every action has an equal, opposite reaction. If we do something, it has some sort of consequence hitting right back at us.

Take crime, for instance. Yes, it's possible to beat the living tar out of your neighbor. The consequence is jail, loss of freedom, loss of certain rights as citizens, etc.

The criminal element doesn't seem to care, much. I'm not sure if there's no actual conceptualization of the consequences, or if the consequences have been weighed carefully, and the risk is less than the reward.

That scares me. If life is so bad that going to jail is preferable to staying out of it, there's such misery in the world that I can't even wrap my mind around it. I just can't imagine life being so rotten that jail seems ok.

At the same time, I cannot imagine thinking that knocking over a convenience store is something that I can get away with. For starters, every major tv network has some sort of show that features stupid criminals getting caught on videotape. They have to get that footage somewhere, morons. There's also no loyalty in the criminal element. They'll sell each other out to keep from getting sent to jail, or on the promise of money. So the odds of getting caught are pretty high.

So why do it? Greed's the short answer, I suppose. It just doesn't seem enough to justify the risk of getting caught. Never mind the morality involved here. I'm presupposing that morals are a foregone conclusion with most of the criminal element. The risk/reward equation is all I'm focusing on here.

I can't afford a Mercedes, so I don't drive one. I can't afford a 5000 square foot home, so I don't live in one. I can't afford Armani suits, so I don't wear them. I couldn't afford spring break trips to Mexico, so I didn't go. I can't afford new cd's, so I don't buy them. In other words, I do without. My life is perfectly ok without those things. It really is. I wouldn't have said so at one point or another in my life, but it's true. Even in the midst of the worst possible stuff envy, it never seemed worth stealing over. Breaking into a house to steal something sure isn't worth it. Every household I know about has enough gun wielders in it to make that idea seem pretty dumb. Does that thought never cross the mind of a burglar? Has he decided that it's worth the risk, despite the risk of lead poisoning?

I can understand being so desperate to feed my child that I'd steal. But I also can't imagine a friend or family member not taking my child in to feed him, if things ever got that bad. Or the church, or distant relatives, or somebody. There's always an alternative, it seems.

I can't figure this one out at all. And I grow more puzzled every time I deal with people like this, which is daily.