Tyler Jorgenson

I talked a little while back on what I call ‘The Aladdin Syndrome’. Somebody felt, I assumed, that they had to eat and that my truck represented a little bread. Turns out it was a little less of the Aladdin Syndrome and a little more of the ‘Robin Hood Paradox’. The RHP is the concept that stealing from somebody that apparently had more than you do in an effort to equal things out actually lowers the thief’s state further despite the increase in wealth, goods, etc. My truck was recovered on Easter morning.

The suspects were seen with their (my) high beams on at 1:45am as they drove past an officer in the neighboring city of Ontario, CA. When the officer turned around to inspect he saw that there was a suspicious dealer plaque and ‘Hello Kitty’ license plate holder. He turned on his lights to pull the vehicle over. A high speed chase ensued ending in this:

The sad part about seeing my truck was seeing all of their beer, cologne, CD’s of filth and other items of ‘the World’ mixed in with remnants of my families memories. Although they were ‘rollin with the homies’ with the seats thrown back and open beer in the cup holders they didn’t take the time to clean up the Alpha-bits my kids had thrown the weekend before.

I feel for those that think it is acceptable and even justifiable to take that which is not theirs. Now I just hope the insurance company is nice regarding the valuation of the vehicle.

With the economy in the proverbial toilet I have been telling a few people about my theory that I call The Aladdin Syndrome. In one of the first scenes of the popular Disney cartoon Aladdin the title character steals bread because he’s ‘gotta eat’. It is interesting to me that this stealing is never condemned in the movie, in fact Aladdin is the one whose ‘worth lies deep within’ and is the ‘diamond in the rough’. As unemployment climbs well into the double digits and the realities of the economy begin to hit more people I predict we will see a drastic increase in theft. People feel justified in breaking the 8th commandment. Last Friday, the 10th of April 2009, I was at a lunch meeting and came out to find that my truck had been stolen. I wasn’t upset. In fact I was surprisingly calm, according to the deputy taking the report. I told the officer that I was more concerned for the person whose life was in such a situation that they felt their best choice on that Good Friday was to take a vehicle that did not belong to them.

I felt very blessed to have a spare car to drive until the fate of the truck was discovered. I received a call at 6:45 Easter morning to inform me that the truck had been recovered in a neighboring city, that it had sustained damage and that it was being held for evidence. An officer from the Ontario Police Department is on his way to my office to get a consent to do some detective work on the vehicle. I will post more pictures and information once I know get more.

And for your visual enjoyment:

This is a couple of days old, but I just had to share.

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