Not poverty’s fault

There are two main types of people who steal: Those who have nothing and those who have everything.

Those who have nothing walk the streets as if they’re window-shopping. They focus on things worth stealing; they eye those which would bring a lot of money, anything from cars to signature bags and high-end phones, and on the other end, even petty stuff.

Those who have nothing steal to have something. They seek shelter, clothes, food. They hope they’ll survive the day with a happy stomach, or that they could finally find that breakthrough from poverty. They think about their dreams and aspirations, the broken hopes they still want to save. They think about the welfare of their family, their parents, their spouses or partners, their children. They grasp at their simple joys—a cigarette, rugby in a plastic bag, cheap liquor—their means of momentary escape from the uncertainties of their life that includes whether they will survive.

Those who have everything study their targets in the manner they devote to a philosophical reading. They focus on things at par with or worth more than what they have—underground businesses, resource exploitation, stuff more than what hundreds of peasants earn in a year. In truth, those are the things that can boost the economy if done rightly and aimed at the betterment of the many.

Those who have everything steal to amass a greater fortune, more glamorous cars, bigger mansions. They aim for the assurance that their lives will retain abundance even after their retirement from their day job. They live up to their lifestyle no matter how unwise their actions and the consequences may be. They hope to impress people, or perhaps cover for the huge losses they have made.

I thought of all these as my professor discussed political philosophy in class. I realized that poverty is not the reason theft is rampant. I realized that society easily punishes the poor, but hardly ever sanctions the rich. I understood that people readily associate stealing with those in the lower classes: When you see a person who looks poor, you may hold your purse with a greater grip. But if it’s a rich person you are dealing with, the thought of that person stealing does not even cross your mind.

Perhaps being part of the middle class makes one a little distant from the possibility of theft. I’m not saying middle-class people never steal; all I’m saying is that extremes may push people to act in a disapproved way, and that poverty is not the sole reason the world is not as good as everyone hopes it would be.

It isn’t always poverty’s fault.

Mariam Jayne M. Agonos, 21, is studying communication research at the University of the Philippines Diliman.