Locked Doors

I was probably in fourth or fifth grade when our class was shown a film about eskimos.  (I'm pretty sure that the people in the film were referred to as "eskimos", although I realize that that term may now be considered out-of-date or even offensive.  I apologize if my use of the term is inappropriate or offensive.)

One particular scene has stuck with me.  A man was walking along a trail, bound for another village, looking toward the shore of a body of water, when he saw a particular piece of driftwood -- a fairly large log -- that he thought would be nice to have.  He left the trail, walked to the shoreline, picked up the driftwood, brought it back to the trail, and set it beside the trail where everyone walking along the trail would probably notice it, in a position that made it obvious that SOMEONE had placed it there.  The narrator stated that the man did not want to bother lugging it all the way to the next village and back, and would leave it there to pick up on his way back home.  Since it would be obvious to everyone that someone had already claimed that particular piece of driftwood, no one else would take it.

Recently, while a friend of mine's front door was left unlocked, someone came into her house and took several valuable objects -- mostly electronics.  Technically, they did not "break in", since my friend's daughter had left the door unlocked while she went for a walk.  Still, to even SEE the objects they had to first enter my friend's house, AND it seems highly likely that they realized the valuable objects had already been "claimed" by someone.  It's not as if they noticed naturally-occuring objects lying on the seashore.

People commonly leave valuable objects in their cars, visible to passers-by -- IF the passers-by happen to glance INSIDE the car.  IF someone leaves a valuable object in their car, and later finds it missing, then friends, acquaintances, and even the police are likely to ask them whether or not their car door had been locked prior to the disappearance of the object.  If their response is that they had left their car door unlocked, then people are likely to be critical of THEM, rather that the thief who removed the object.  What did they EXPECT, leaving their door unlocked, with a valuable item visible to passers-by?

Words cannot appropriately express my feelings on this subject.  An unlocked door is NOT an invitation to steal, and anyone who states that such behaviour is predictable is, in a way, encouraging it.  As long as it remains clear that our valuable possessions are indeed OUR valuable possessions, then we should be able to leave them unprotected, and anyone who robs us should not only be prosecuted, but shunned by the rest of society as an evil-doer.

In fact, there is a part of me that believes NONE of us should EVER lock our doors, and that by locking doors at all we are promoting the idea that robbery is acceptable behaviour.  Anytime I know that something is yours and not mine, then it is wrong for me to take possession of it, even if it is POSSIBLE for me to take possession of it.

(At this moment in the discussion, some readers might begin to think in less concrete terms.  What if someone takes credit for something YOU actually accomplished, or somehow "takes" your job, or your significant other?  The truth is complicated, and these are questions for another discussion, and totally beyond what I am writing about here.  I am writing only about actual physical objects that might be carried off or destroyed by someone else gaining access to them.)

There is also the issue of locking doors of public buildings for security.  I would prefer that church doors always remain unlocked,and SOME still do!  I also take issue with the recent increases in school security.  As I was growing up, school doors always remained unlocked during the school day, and were actually propped OPEN during warm weather.  Now we lock our school doors, and require visitors to "check in" or otherwise obtain some sort of permission for being there.  While I understand that our need for "safety" and "security" necessitated these changes, I cannot escape the belief that by resorting to these measures -- by locking the doors -- we are condoning and possibly even encouraging the negative behavior we are attempting the thwart.

I must confess that I DO lock my doors, and I avoid leaving valuable items visible in my car, even with the doors locked, since I have little faith in passers-by, and I do not wish to lose my possessions.  Still, on a philosophical level, I believe our world would be better if we all left our doors unlocked and united against anyone who would even CONSIDER removing that which did not belong to them, or anyone who would menace our schools, or violate the sanctity of our houses of worship.

In practical terms, our modern world offers the related issue of things that seem to be "lost".  If I am walking through a parking lot, and see a penny on the ground, I am aware that the penny did not appear there naturally -- at some point, someone else possessed the penny.  At the same time, it is unlikely that they deliberately left the penny in that spot, intending to return for it.  I will probably pick the penny up and assume possession of it, and I will not feel guilty or morally ambiguous.

To a certain extent, the question of "lost" items revolves around their value.  Years ago, I found a bag containing an expensive camera, along with several other items, lying in the middle of a busy street.  I knew that the bag did not belong to me.  I doubted that anyone had placed it there deliberately.  I suspected that if I left it there, eventually all of the contents of the bag would be destroyed by passing cars.  I was faced with various options.  Keeping the items for myself seemed wrong.  I COULD have taken the bag, and placed an ad in the "lost and found" section of our local newspaper.  That might have been best.  Instead, I turned the bag in at our local police station, explaining where I had found it.  I hope perhaps it was eventually reunited with its proper owner.

The question of lost items can be difficult and complicated.  IF the camera was never reunited with its proper owner, then I suppose I had more claim to it that anyone else did.  If it was eventually claimed by one of the police officers, or auctioned off to earn money for the city, then this, too, seems unjust.  Then again, if I had taken out a "lost and found" ad, then ANYONE could have contacted me, claiming that the camera was theirs, and I might not have been able to determine whether they were telling the truth.  Truth is complicated.

Still, someone who enters my home or my vehicle, whether or not the doors are locked, cannot reasonably and sanely claim that they thought MY camera was "lost" and therefore available for the taking -- even if my camera was left out on the table on my front porch.  In these cases, theft remains theft, and it really should not make any difference to ANYONE whether the doors were locked or unlocked.  This is one of those cases in which the truth is NOT complicated.

This is also one of those cases in which I can clearly identify a problem, but cannot identify a solution.  We SHOULD not steal from each other, and we SHOULD not need to lock our doors, but I do not know how to change the world to accomplish this.