Bike stolen

Blimey my bike just got stolen from outside the library ... kind of predictable as I was chancing it without a lock ... but just in case it was time to believe that people aren't that bad really here's proof otherwise. Still I wonder whether to report this (which is enormous hassle) or just give it to whoever took it - they obviously want it and it will make their life a bit easier... and the person who buys it off them so it's all good really... except it causes a tiny bit of deflation in bike prices and devalues the labour of people in the industry a bit.

Was thinking anyway how is it that the demand for things still so massively outstrips the supply even with oil, machines and relatively cheap labour (in third world) making things already so easy to come by? It is as though we haven't progessed at all. That bike is worth only 2 weeks labour at the minimum wage - and you only need buy one bike in a lifetime so it is very easy to come by. But this is one of the points in this blog - we haven't progessed relatively at all.

There are two driving forces to poverty. One is population: we will have more sex and children to always fill any supply or resources until poverty is once again reached. The pressure that person felt, and the pressure I feel having the bike stolen is partly the pressure of sex driving up population and driving down the availability of things.

The other force is greed. Greedy people will always feel poor regardless how much they have. This bike is a good test for me. It will be exciting to go back to life before the bike to re-explore a poorer world and become less greedy and so happier with it than I was with the bike!

But this does open up the other side of this which I think I had resolved before but evidently forgotten. The person who stole that bike is unfortunately going to feel rich for a while now he has got it, but sadly he will only stoke his greed so that he will feel even poorer in the future. It is such a waste that it is me who will feel richer having coped with my poverty while he will feel poorer for this transfer of wealth. This is why I was supposed to be locking my bike more securely to make sure that I didn't give weak people the opportunity to make themselves poor. But really this whole state of affairs is irksome that I must take responsibility for other peoples weaknesses... certainly one thing I have lost is patience, my attitude very much is let them learn the hard way.

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I was in a quandry about whether to report the bike. On one hand my purpose in not locking it was it would involve a cycle home and back again to get the lock... stitch in time etc... so there was more effort generated by leaving it unlocked not just for me but for the police if I reported it.

But at the same time this bike was a present and I should treat it with respect. So I decided to report it.

I have to say that the police are beyond my best expectations - I said I wasn't claiming insurance and he said don't worry it shouldn't have been taken in the first place... so the police are actually pushing for a moral society not just a practical, legal, institutional society. He certainly made me feel that theft under any circumstances should not be tolerated ... unlike my mother for example who would blame me for leaving it unlocked. That said I have certainly made a lot of work for everyone.

My next concern is the person who took it. He will be poor, maybe a drug addict and somewhat on the outside of society. My first thought is that he needs the bike more than me. But actually may be if the police are really seeking a better society he is better in their hands than on his own. Plus reducing theft raises the value of people work in the legitimate bike industry and most important of all increases the trust between people which is what this is all really about.

Sadly between now and people trusting each other is a very great deal of work. I wonder if there is ever a way to stop people becoming greedy and feeling poor and losing the respect of other people. The police today, once again, have made me think maybe there is.

But once again there is the war in Afghanistan and the one before in Iraq and this weighs very heavy on my view of politics. The police may be working for the Good but they have only a very limited influence - they can't decide how they are funded or how schools are run or how communities are supported or how people are treated by the economy and investors - it is these which will influence society most.