Question for my parents out there (or you don’t necessarily have to even be parents to answer)…
Your teenage son…
comes home with a shiny new bicycle that he told you a friend sold to him at a huge discount. It is an extraordinarily beautiful bicycle, unlike any you’ve seen before. You look at your son with great pride for being a smart shopper. Your son rides the bicycle around for a few months, showing it off to everyone he knows. One day, while your son is out bike riding with his friends, someone knocks at your door. You open the door and observe a mother (of a different ethnic group) and her young son standing there. When you ask how you can help them, the mother explains to you that your son may have her son’s stolen bicycle.
Though shocked and surprised at what you initially take to be an accusation, you calmly explain to her that your son would never steal because you didn’t raise him that way. Still, the mother proceeds to show you the receipt for the bicycle and a manufacturers registration card with the name of the owner and serial number of the bicycle, then shows you both a copy of the police report they filed, along with her driver’s license bearing the same last name and address as the one on the registration card. She asks you to take a picture of the card to record the serial number and simply check it against your son’s bicycle when he returns home, then gives you her phone number and asks you to call her if in fact the serial numbers match. The mother and her son leave.
Later, your son returns, and when he goes upstairs to shower before dinner, you check the serial number on the bicycle frame against the one you have a photo of and discover that they match. At the dinner table, you tell your son about the visit from the mom and little boy, then ask if he knows the boy, to which he answers, “No.” You ask if he personally knows the person from whom he purchased the bicycle and again he answers, “No.” You explain to your son that the bicycle he purchased was stolen and that it needs to be returned to its original owner? He begins to sob incessantly and pleads with you to let him keep it because he spent his hard-earned money on it, doesn’t know the boy who claimed it was his, didn’t personally know the person who sold him the bicycle and didn’t know it was stolen.
And now for the question… what would you do?
Would you:
A.) Tell your son you’re sorry but that he’s going to have to return the bicycle to its original owner, then call the mom and arrange to meet them with the bike?
B.) Ignore it and allow him to keep it because…
You KNOW your son would never buy something that he knew was stolen. He loves the bicycle so much and because that particular model is one of a kind and you know it couldn’t be bought anywhere else, you couldn’t bear to break his heart by making him give it back. Besides, he doesn’t know the boy anyway, right?
Answer with your choice in the comments below.
All the Best!
–MT
Matt D. Talford is a writer, narrator, and author of three books: “Stuck In An Elevator” – a fictitious tale of passion and self-discovery; “Captain’s Mate: A Practical Guide for Tennis Captains, League Players and High School Coaches”; and his award-winning debut title: ”From Fear to Faith: A Survivor’s Story” – a memoir about overcoming a rare form of what he calls “the C-word.” All three books are currently available in paperback at www.talfordarts.com or at Amazon.com; and in eBook format on Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks. “From Fear to Faith: A Survivor’s Story” is also available in audiobook (narrated by Talford himself) at iTunes, audible.com, and at many other sites where audiobooks are sold. For information on these and other products, click the “shop” link in the menu.
The bike would be returned now that we know it is stolen property. Teachable moment to adjust his internal conversation: We would walk in the other boy’s shoes who had his bike stolen (How would he feel if it had happened to him? How would he feel if his stolen bike was returned?) We would discuss avoiding being sold stolen property.
We would discuss karma again (he has heard it before) and the energy associated with stolen goods and how such things are tests from the Creator. I’d give him the choice of what type of man does he want to be. I would allow him to be sad. Then I would help him find a different bike and replace it.
Thank you for commenting and for reading the article. I hope you enjoyed it!