Dear Editor
Over the course of eight days there have been seven bikes and one car stolen. Three of those bikes were found and actually stolen again the next night. These are only the ones that I know of because they are friends, family, neighbours - the people I know. As well, the amount of car windows smashed or items stolen from the parked cars is overwhelming and sad. These random acts of crimes are too much.
Do you remember what it was like to run home after school and throw your books down, head out the door and say, "See you later, Mom, love you," then grab your bike and be gone for the rest of the day? We used to use a clothespin and a playing card attached to the spokes to make that "motorcycle" sound. We used to see how long we could ride with no hands. And how many of us gave doubles on our bikes with someone sitting on the handles? Sadly some kids will not ever have this memory because someone "out there" feels they need that bike more and they don't feel they should have to earn it.
Remember the feeling of owning your first car? Remember how cool you felt when you drove up to school and parked "your" car in the student parking lot? Remember how excited you were when on a Friday night you could go cruising through town? Now think how you would have felt if you woke up for school and it was gone, stolen?
It's not just about the monetary cost - this thievery also costs in beliefs. The belief that people are good, the belief that you work hard and you earn the things you want, the belief stealing is wrong and the belief you're safe. This crime is not just about bikes or cars it's about violating the person, the family. If you have ever seen the look on a small child's face when they realize that someone stole their bike, or the look on the young man's face when his car was stolen while everyone was sleeping ... then you understand.
What do we do? Do we just stop riding bikes? Do we lock everything up with bolts and chains? (That doesn't help much either. If they want it then they just cut the chain off.) Do we live in fear and not trust people?
I say no! I say that there is more good out there than bad. I say we need to start doing something to stop this. I say that we need to come together as a community and step up. All of us need to say something when we see a crime happening. We can't be thinking, "I don't want to get involved," or "It's not my problem." I believe that if you live here, work here, raise your family here - then this is your problem, my problem, our problem. All of these crimes are a reflection on all of us not just "those people." Instead of saying "someone" should do something, let's be that "someone," let's take a stand and say, "We've had enough!"
Let's create that community we all want, the community where we can walk about safely, where the kids' bikes are safe, where a young person's first car will still be there in the morning, where you wake up to all your car windows intact. We need to work together to make this happen. We need to be the change that we want to see in the world. Let's be that change, let's be that amazing community that we know we can be. Let's be better.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)
Ursula Swindler
North Battleford
