Dear Mr. Thief

so, I thought that I'd write to you, not that you will ever see this but that matters not. I have now been affected and been your target twice. And so I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you. The first time we crossed each other's paths, was back in April. I took my kids away for vacation for the Easter long weekend. It was our first "vacation" in six years. And trust me it wasn't much of one. One of my girlfriends invited us up to her house so that we could get away and we went. So it wasn't a vacation in the truest sense, it was simply a bit of time away. We has a wonderful time and came back semi refreshed and ready to carry on. But you see, we came home to a house devastated with our few precious things gone. You chose to take my children's jewellery, their game system, our computer monitor, my jewellery..nothing that would net any great source of income, but things that were precious to me and my children.

Now, I am a single mother, barely making ends meet as it is. So really, nothing has been replaced My dad gave my kids an xbox 360 but apart from that, I have had not the income to be able to replace everything. I guess you thought that I had insurance and that I could replace things and so you would strike again. And this time? This time you took the last 3 remaining things that had any value. You took my laptop, my kids new xbox and my camera with which I make a living.

Can I ask you one question Mr Thief? Are you done now? Have you satisfied your lust for money, drugs and power? Are you done with robbing me?

I ask, not because I am mad at you. I ask because you stole things far more important than our stuff. And I ask because I need to know how to  keep my children safe. For you see, you didn't just take our material possessions. That is the least of what you took. You took our safety, our sense of well-being, our faith and trust in mankind and you took the innocence of my children as they have had to wrestle with the knowledge that there are people in this world who think so selfishly that they would bring harm to another person. You took our sleep, as we wake many times through the night at whatever noise is outside, wondering hoping and praying that we stay safe.

You see, I raised my kids to know something different. I raised them to believe in the goodness of man. I raised them to trust that good people exist and that leading a good life, an honest life of integrity is the right way to do things. I raised them to not lie. I raised them with integrity. And in one selfish act you have shaken, and perhaps shattered everything that I have taught my children, who now question some of life's most core and fundamental principles.

They grieve the things they lost. I grieve the childhood you stole from them.

But Mr. Thief, I have chosen to bear you no ill will. And I have chosen to teach my children the same thing. Rather, we have decided to bless you. I don't know why you chose to do this., I don't know why you chose to inflict this suffering on us. But I have my suspicions. I believe that it is because you wanted drug money.

But you see, that makes me ache for your pain. Why? Because I know that drugs is a numbing agent. And for you to need drugs to numb must mean you are destroyed by the pain you carry. It is this thought combined with the thought my the fear my children now live with that causes me to cry myself to sleep at night and wake up crying through the night.. And so, Mr. Thief, I hope for you, I pray for you. I hope that one day something stirs in your heart that allows to know in a deep and tangible way something of the intangible things you stole from my children. But most of all, Mr. Thief, I hope and pray for your redemption, your freedom and your happiness.

While I cry, Mr. Thief, may you be blessed.