Odd encounter today:

I drop some change in Hess in carlisle Pa.

Person next to me stoops to pick some up to.

He pockets what he picks up,

I look and say nothing at first for a moment to ponder the value of $0.15 cents.

I ponder what the value of the moral impact of this event is and then decide to act.

I then say in a tone of admeration "WOW!! what an asshole, i drop some change and you stoop down infront of me to pick it up and pocket it"

the guy reaches into his pocket and pulls out some change and proceeds to say "i have change"

I reach into my pocket and pull out a quarter and toss it to the floor and say "its all good, here have another"

I can respect the Gall it took to blatently do that, although it is a petty amount of currency. IT was still done in a store full of people and infront of the person who droped it. I understand the other person was from oversea's. And things might be diffrent were he is from...But in this chunk of dirt i view it as him enableing me to be a jackass and I thank him for that.

Quite frankly I am more offended at the exploitation of social norms to get away with thieft, then the thieft its self. It pains me to relise that our culture has gotten to the point were One can conduct thieft in view of everyone. And count on peoples indiffrence (just mind your own buisness) And the cultural apathy (meh, its not worth it). What offends me is not the act, But that people can use our cultures apathy in such a way to exploit it. Its not the change out of my pocket. Its that understanding the common person has of that social meme that worrys me that it may someday break my leg.