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APEOPLEWHO
"CAN'TAFFORD"
TOTITHE
Greed, selfíshness, lust and outright stealing are sending the Western
world hurtling down the road to destruction. But there is much more to it
than just stealing from another human being.
W
e steal from each other in
numbers and amounts that
defy the imagination. Think
for a moment. How many keys do
you carry? ls your automobile
locked? Is your home safe?
What about shopping? Do you
readily cash your personal checks
where no one knows you? Or must
you carry on your person a vast ar–
ray of personal identification in the
form of a driver's license. crcdit
cards, bank cards and check guaran–
tee cards to somehow vouch for the
fact that you are who you are?
The Cardinal Sin of
Steallng
"Simple" stealing has been one of
the most prevalen! sins plaguing
mankind from time immemorial.
And this present world seems to be
filled with dishonest. cheating. lying.
conniving hypocrites whose con–
sciences seem seared and whose
princip ies have long since dis–
appeared.
From the time when you first had
your lunch stolen in elementary
chool to the time your home was
burglarized. you have had to lcarn
the bitter, anguished lesson that this
socicty is simply perrneated with
people who steal.
Probably you too have indulged
in it "just a little"!
Most peop le admit to having
committed at least one act during
their lives for which they could have
been incarccrated. And nine times
out of ten. that "one act"
was sreal–
ing!
lt's chic to say: " 1wouldn't give
two hoots in a whirlwind for a boy
who wouldn't steal a watermelon
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1977
by
Garner Ted Armstrong
from the neighbor's patch!" lt's al–
most accepted.
What about it? Did you merely
sn itch a few marbles from the o ld
tive-and-dime when you were a kid?
Merely pilfer a couple of hubcaps,
or "borrow" sorne tools from the
shop, o r just use the stamps and
stationery from the office?
How many people do you know
who wouldn't steal no matter what?
Your local butche r? Th e bank
teller? The insurance salesman? The
Federal tax consultan!? You r ne igh–
bor? The local used-car dealer? (Re–
member the o ld Edgar Bergen–
Charlie McCar thy program. which
was on for years in the golden age of
old-time radio? Bergen said there
was no such thing as a perfect crime,
and Charlie wryly retorted: "Oh ,
yeah? Ever buy a used car?")
"Honest" Thieves
Wha t about Mr. Average? You
know, the guy next door who shops
at the supermarket the same as you
and your wife do?
Every manager of every super–
market knows he can discount a fair
percentage of his profits because of
shoplifti ng, pilferage, accidental or
wanton destruction of perishables,
damaged cans and bottles, and sto–
len o r "borrowed" shopping carts.
(Sorne people make a business of
going around in trucks. picking up
and returning "borrowed" shopping
carts to grocery stores.)
While the checker smiles as he
rings up the total. he's also wonder–
ing if Mr. or Mrs. Average (people
who wouldn 't dream ofholding up a
bank) have any goods concealed on
their persons. When he demands
identitication, he's doing so because
he 's ended up holding a consid–
erable number of rubber checks
wri tten by those who üve by the
philosophy of cheating and stealing.
The average American. Briton.
Australian. Canadian or South Afri–
can
regular/y commits
the most suc–
cessful crimes in history (far
surpassing even viole nt st rect
crimes), because they're " nice guys"
- not dirty, tilthy criminal types
stra ight ou t of ou r big-city ghettos.
Bu t white-collar crime is not limited
to the big-city supermarket. Jts ugly
tentacles have spread to every pro–
fession, every social and economic
stratum. and certainly every nation
in the world . These so-called "nice
guys" range from the proverbial
butcher with the heavy thumb, the
embczzling bank employee, the sta–
tione ry-s tea ling secretary, the cheat–
in g mechanic. th e price-rigging
executive, all the way to the shop–
lifting housewife.
These people don't think of them–
selves as dirty. rotten thieves. If you
could overhear sorne of thei r casual
conversations. you'd probably hear
them decry Watergate. lament the
Lockheed payoffs in Japan and
patently condemn hi gh-level
co rru pt io n. T he y m igh t be
churchgoing, fami ly-orien t ed.
"solid" cit izens and subjects of vari–
ous nations in our Western world.
The lncredlble Statistics
FB I Director Clarence Kelley has
frankly stated that white-collar
crime dwarfs street crime in num–
bers and dollars many times over.
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