The Domino Effect: Thievery within our Walls

The+Domino+Effect%3A+Thievery+within+our+Walls

Tim Sullivan '19, Staff Writer

I like my locker. I don’t think that’s too far of a stretch. For the last few years my locker has remained the storage space for my books, binders, jacket, loose pieces of paper, etc. And for the last two years I’ve kept my locker unlocked, trusting that the members of my community would never take any of my belongings. However, earlier this year, nearly all of my trust in my community was lost, as I had my coat and tie stolen out of my locker. I was at a lack of words. The fact that somebody had the audacity to open my locker and steal my belongings sent me through the roof. I took the demerit for missing morning assembly. As I sat in demerit hall, I angrily plotted my revenge. I would catch this person. No matter what it took.

But then two days went by and I forgot all about it. It wasn’t until a week or so ago that I really started to think about the whole “locker-stealing situation.” Too many times have I had peers run up to me, minutes before assembly, asking if I happened to have an extra tie because theirs was stolen out of their locker. I’d like everyone to take a step back and consider how many times they’ve been in this situation, or have had a friend in this situation.

In order to find out more, I went through the halls and asked different students about their history with getting things stolen out of their locker. Junior Peter Lehmann told me that he can no longer go to morning assembly because his coat and tie were stolen out of his locker. In addition, I had a long chat with junior Paul Marotta, who went into great depth about his experience with getting his coat and tie stolen out of his locker. Mr. Marotta told me that he had a sports coat worth hundreds of dollars stolen out of his locker. He was forced to buy a new one. These are two prime examples of the effect that this thievery has.

I’d like to think that this whole situation is a type of domino effect: One student comes to school without a sports coat. He then steals somebody’s coat out of their locker. The person who got theirs stolen then goes on to steal another person’s coat and tie. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. However, by thinking this way, maybe I’m just trying to justify the bad decisions of others. ‘How could someone have possibly fallen on such a bad path that they have to resort to taking a sports coat and tie out of another students’ locker?’ I continue to ask myself.

Fortunately, it looks like there will be some change brought about regarding this issue. In his SDC speech last year, junior Jack Robey described his account of getting his tie stolen out of his locker, and the demerit halls that he had to serve as a result. Mr. Robey ended his speech by saying, “It wasn’t until I was sitting in that demerit hall that I thought to myself: ‘For justice, I will join the SDC.’” With new people in power such as Jack, hopefully some steps in the right direction will be made to prevent further theft.

It’s a real shame that this type of thievery happens too, as our school’s motto of Responsibility Loyalty and Consideration is practically thrown out of the window. However, with the stories from these students and with new leadership, hopefully some change will happen. And with this change, our school’s mottos of Responsibility, Loyalty, and Consideration can be restored.