To the Burglar

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 415, 3 December 1991, Page 10

To the Burglar,

• This is an open letter to the local burglars. I won't mention any names, you know who you are and so do we. There are two sides to every story. I understand what it is like to be a victim of a burglary but I do not understand what it is to be a burglar and what motivates you to commit such crimes against people you probably don't know and who have never done anything to hurt you. Why do you wish to cause them such misery and suffering? What did they ever do to you? Do you have any idea what it is like to stand helplessly by waiting for assistance while someone calmly walks in and removes the possessions you have worked your butt off to pay for. It has taken me four years of hard work to gather a few nice things around me and you feel it is your right to just walk in and take them away from me. I know I am speaking for the rest of the local people you have been ripping off I know they will be feeling angry, humiliated and frustrated. Some of them probably don't sleep well any more, some of them may become physically or emotionally ill through your actions. Did that ever occur to you? I know what it is like to be unemployed, I know what it is like not to have any money to buy food, I know what it is like not to be able to have and do the things I want to do but that

doesn't mean I feel like taking from someone else. How do you choose your victims? Do they have to meet any criteria or do you just hit at random? Perhaps if any of you can read or write you may like to answer this letter and clear up a few questions your victims do not understand. 4 By the way just in case you thought that our insurance policies might cover our losses (if indeed we all had insurance policies) then think again because most policies will not give enough money to get back the goods you have taken from us. We spend quite some time inconvenienced by not being able to use the things we PAID for while we wait for our insurance to come and then we have to take second best or pay the difference to get what we had in the first place which means more scrimping and saving for most of us. I think that's unfair don't you? I await your reply with interest.

Hard worker hit