“You’ve got to be desperate to steel from a blind person.” I heard this argument from someone and it confused me. Confusion came not so much that the morality of stealing from the blind is wrong, but that from the assumption that stealing from others is acceptable.

When I was a child at my mother’s knee, I learned that the penalty of theft was a blistered behind. The lesson was not that the blisters came more frequently if the target of my sin was someone less well off than me, but that the theft itself was not tolerated. If I wanted the cookie, I requested it. If I needed a dollar to ride the bus, I asked for it. Taking that which belongs to someone else was just not done, and by the time I reached five-years-old, I had that moral lesson so firmly entrenched in my skull that even today I check to see if anyone lost any money before I pick up what I find on the street.
When did the simple morality of theft change? Why is it acceptable to rob from the rich and give to the poor? Who are today’s protected classes? I am only concerned, as I would like to know if they deserve special consideration.
I still believe in equal equality regardless of your particular situation. Keep your hands out of my effects and if you cannot afford it, please do not’ take it. To miss quote Mr. Mackey, “stealing is bad … you shouldn’t steal.”