![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/84efe9cec7ed4224f0b43decf2761945-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Being from the “big city”, there are things that are just not in my mindset.\u00a0 Living in a more rural state has shown me there’s much trust out there.\u00a0 Trust that I was raised to reject.\u00a0 One is the naive lack of awareness of one’s surroundings.\u00a0 Case in point:\u00a0 In the winter people will leave their cars running and unattended while they go in the store.\u00a0 It’s only a few minutes, right?\u00a0 (They also openly count their money while still standing at the ATM, which drives my sister crazy.)<\/p>\n
Where I come from your car would be gone in a heartbeat.\u00a0 And guess what… it happens here, too, albeit not as often.\u00a0 In fact, it happened here just last week.\u00a0 This guy that I do not know personally, but am loosely acquainted with through a Facebook group, had his car stolen in this manner.\u00a0 I’m copying portions of the story here…<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.kcrg.com\/content\/news\/Marion-man-has-car-stolen-after-leaving-it-running-unattended-468390093.html<\/p>\n
MARION, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) —<\/strong><\/span> A Marion man says he was just trying to keep his vehicle warm in sub zero weather when someone stole his SUV.<\/p>\n
It happened on December 30th at Casey’s General Store at 680 Lindale Drive in Marion. <deleted> says he was running inside to get a cup of hot chocolate before work.<\/p>\n
He had his spare key on him, and thought he locked up before going inside. A person at the nearby laundromat spotted the SUV and drove off with it. Police are still searching for the person who did it. <deleted> thinks the person is homeless, and stole his car to stay warm.<\/p>\n
He adds, “Well I feel violated. And like I told the officer, the Marion Police officer. I told them, I said I would’ve given him a ride. You know, some place or a shelter, or wherever he wanted to go.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
…and…<\/p>\n
The vehicle was found Monday in Cedar Rapids. Police will check it for evidence, then give it back to <deleted>. He says he will keep his doors locked from now on.<\/p>\n
He adds, “I screwed up, you know. I don’t know how else to put it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
(He wasn’t this contrite in the Facebook group.)\u00a0 And he’s surprised it was stolen.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude10<\/p>\n
Ok, now this news story does not include all the annoying details.\u00a0 It also happens that this guy posted his plight on the previously mentioned Facebook page, expressing sadness and shock at being victimized.\u00a0 And… this is what gets my goat more than the car theft itself… people lined up to defend him and his choices.\u00a0 People slammed the thief, which was appropriate, but not a single person dared criticize him for the obvious.\u00a0 They actually defended<\/strong> him and told him he bore no fault whatsoever.\u00a0 It was all on the thief.\u00a0 It was as if they were all enabling dumb decisions.\u00a0 No one was willing to say what needed to be said… “But you left your car running, you idiot!\u00a0 That was stupid!”<\/p>\n
Now, don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t matter how ‘available’ something is, and no theft victim ever “deserves” it, there is never an excuse to steal.\u00a0 But let’s get back to the real world, shall we?\u00a0 In the real world there are dishonest people.\u00a0 People who will steal, and it is incumbent on you to reasonably protect your stuff.\u00a0 Locks were invented for a reason.\u00a0 Leaving your vehicle available is not responsible.\u00a0 Leaving your vehicle available is dumb, especially without remote start.\u00a0 Even if the door is locked, if the key is in the ignition you’re asking for trouble.<\/p>\n
Oh, and the best part:\u00a0 In the Facebook group he said he will continue to do the same thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being from the “big city”, there are things that are just not in my mindset.\u00a0 Living in a more rural state has shown me there’s much trust out there.\u00a0 Trust that I was raised to reject.\u00a0 One is the naive lack of awareness of one’s surroundings.\u00a0 Case in point:\u00a0 In the winter people will leave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8,2,17,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disbelief","category-driving","category-mornings","category-observations","category-rant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}