But he's stealing

I saw him do it too. I saw him take five dollars out of the collection basket.

He is a young man in his early 20's, living with a brain injury, shuffling around the neighborhood during the day. Mostly I see him alone. He always wears the same clothes- black jeans, black jacket, white T, silver chains, black hi tops. Skinny. Sad. Always close to tears or anger.

He sat there next to this woman staring acusingly at him, peppering him with questions like "What did you put in that basket?" and "How much did you take out?" and finally "I saw you..."

And he put the five dollars into his pocket and stared ahead, saying nothing. And then left early.

She shook her head at me and said "That's not right."

It's not. It's also not right that he's probably hungry either, I thought. Les Miserables. I told her I'd talk to him because she wanted to call the police.

So I went outside and asked him if he was hungry. He nodded yes at me. I asked if he had a place to live. He said he lives with his father, but his mother had died and no one made food. He gives his check to his father, but needs money for food. We had a talk about where he can go for food and I had a talk with his father.

We also had a talk about stealing but that came after he ate. Something.

I'm watching news about Madoff this morning, who ripped off so many for so much. And I think of all those who rip off others on much larger scales and receive less censure than this hungry young man did for five dollars. Even though they use the money for penthouses and yachts, not a slice of pizza.

I'm not defending stealing, but sometimes the why of it can be fixed with feeding someone. And when it's not, that, to me, is a crime.