When a person is three, they don't really have a sense of right and wrong. They just have a sense of have and don't have. This sense is a driving force behind learning right and wrong. Take for instance the idea of shoplifting. People shoplift because they want something, or because they need an adrenaline fix, or because they are either too cheap or can't afford something. The idea of getting caught is there, but if the perpetrator is not caught, then the sense of getting something for nothing, makes the chicks all free.
I learned at an early age to not steal, that it was wrong.
We all have bugged our parents to buy us things when we were young. While they were shopping, we might constantly grab things off the shelf and say, "I want this!" And the answer is usually no, but if we continue to ask, we might get our way. Sometimes, though, we get a good admonishment and "back in the day" we got a good paddling. (Can't do that now, CPS will come take the kids away because of abuse.)
In 1955, (yes, Virginia, there was life in 1955) my mom had taken me with her to the GRAB-IT-Here store in Hoopeston while she shopped for our Do-Nut Shop. I rode backwards in the cart while she shopped constantly pulling items off the shelf and putting them in the cart. She would say, "NO!" and take them out and put them on the shelf. What a great game we had. For some reason, she let me out of the cart to walk beside her as we went near the toy section.
I spied a balsa wood glider that I just had to have, and took it off the hook and gave it to her. She, of course, said, "NO!" and put it back on the shelf. As soon as her back was turned, I took the glider down again, and stuffed it down my pants leg! It was too long, and it covered my knee, so I pulled it up under my armpit. Unfortunately, it was still too long, but I was able to get it out of the store as long as I pretended I was playing "Chester" from the TV show GUNSMOKE.
The problem came when I tried to sit in the backseat, and could not sit up straight. Mom demanded that I sit up straight and when I told her I could not, she asked why. My stomach leaped up into my mouth, as I pulled the plane out of the leg of my pants. I was very pleased with myself. I had gotten something for free. Mom did not see it that way, and dragged me out of the car and back into the GRAB-IT-HERE.
She called over the store manager, explained what had happened, and made me apologize for taking the plane. After I had done that, she promptly pulled my pants and underwear down around my ankles and proceded to spank me stupid. She wailed on me and I wailed at the top of my lungs.
You know what? No one ever called the cops on her and I never stole anything again. I guess I was too afraid of getting my pants pulled down again in public.
Doughnut
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