The Thief and his Nephew
- A fable –
List of characters
The Thief The
The Nephew COMTIM (PWC
John Doe any owner
The Law as
itself
King Solomon as himself
Not too long ago, a guy by
the name of John Doe was taking pleasure in driving his new car. One day, pulled by the flow of traffic, he
entered a rougher looking neighborhood.
Being politically correct, he waved away any gloomy thoughts and imagined
his soon-to-happen family dinner. However,
A glance to the gas gauge confirmed his suspicion; he will have to stop for a
refill. In the gas station, after he
paid for his purchase and was about to take off, a character leaned against his
window and pulled out a gun on him. The
Thief gave John the option to walk away unscathed but without the car or…It
took John very little time to decide – he walked away, back to his family – a
long walk now, as he was without a car.
A few years later, John was
announced that the Thief was finally apprehended and admitted, among other
crimes, that he stole John’s car. He
indicated that in order to recoup the car, as the thief was bankrupt and could
not pay any compensation, John will have to deal with the Thief’s nephew – the
current possessor of the car.
John and his family were
overcome with joy; they were not able to afford another car and getting the old
one back was a blessing. Their joy was
short lived. The Nephew was unwilling to surrender the
vehicle, pointing out that he had no replacement for it and was a little bit
unfair to lose its employ after getting so used to it. After all, it was a present from his uncle,
the Thief, and he accepted it in good faith!
As the Thief had some pull
with the Law, it was implied by the guardians of the public order that the
matter should be solved civilly between John and the Nephew, without any
external intervention. John tried to
reason with the Nephew, pointing out that he was the rightful owner of the car
and he had the papers to prove it, while the Nephew was just the holder of
something that was stolen. Alas, the
Nephew had another uncle, a lawyer, who advised him to request, in case he was
so inclined to return the vehicle, the full reimbursement of all car
expenses. After all, he took good care
of the car for all these years! The
lawyer and the Nephew told John that if tried to take this matter to court they
are going to drag it for so long that his children are going to starve to
death.
Being in a predicament, John
realized that it wouldn’t take the wisdom of King Solomon to solve this simple
matter. As well, King Solomon has died
many thousands of years ago…
The moral of the fable
Do
we live in a moral world?
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