They could have at least said thank you

I was expecting a team of police and a couple of important looking guys in casual stylish suits when I arrived at my house. 'Forensic team' they called themselves. I was disappointed when I discovered a short, overweight balding police officer waiting at the front of my house. Where was Ice-T? or Detective Tutuola, I should say.

"Is this where they gained access in to your property?"

He also didn't have an american accent either. Double disappointed.

Sigh.

I guess I should start from the beginning.

I had arrived home early evening yesterday after a tiring day from work, excited about my night ahead. Rental movies, white wine and skype with the yankee doodle. Perfect.

Gosh mum and dad are so careless. They have left all the bloody lights on!

I walked in to their room to turn the light off.

There were clothes every where. Everything had been emptied from the cupboards. Drawers had been ripped out. Not a bit of carpet was visible underneath all their belongings.

Wow. Either my parents were in some serious rush while packing for the short trip to Singapore or we had just been robbed. My immediate thought was to run to my room to check what had been taken but I paused in the hallway.

What if someone was still here?

Sensible Minh had finally arrived. I called the cops instead.

I was numb when I first saw my room, I was furious when I discovered that my lap top had been taken and I broke down when I realized that they had eaten my last chocolate bar that I had been saving for a snack. The empty wrapper was mocking me.

'I've just dusted a few of the places that may have been touched, but it can all easily be wiped off. You try and have a nice day today' said the one-man forensic team as he left my house.

There were no fingerprints to be found, besides ours of course. What dumbass robber would NOT wear gloves. I did a scan of the damage done. Why couldn't they have been a tiny bit neater?

It took a long time before I agreed to stay with one of my best friends the night of the robbery. Apparently my fool proof plan of using my umbrella as a weapon and securing of my room door with a chair was not enough to convince yankee doodle that I would be safe at home alone.

"...and babe don't forget that I have two cans of hair spray here on my bedside table. I have shaken them up so that they're ready for some action!"

Yankee doodle remained unconvinced.

I mean, it is not like I was trying to be a hero or anything like that, I just want to be in my own home and in my own bed. I refuse to let anyone make me feel like I can't be safe here.

I guess I was really just angry at first. Not only did they take valuable and some very sentimental items, they left me with a house turned upside down and tons of police and insurance paperwork.

An inconvenience that I did not need.

I have to keep reminding myself that at the end of the day it is only material goods.

I know that there are many reasons and motivations for a person to steal. Easy money, easy acquirement of valuable items, a call for attention...the list goes on. But what I don't understand is how burglars can justify to themselves that it is ok to take something that was hard earned by somebody else. At what stage did it become ok to go through other peoples personal and private items and then have it scattered around and stepped on like it means nothing? I really don't know, but I am certain that it cannot have stemmed from a good place.

So yes. I did lose my lap top. I did lose alot of cash. I did lose my jewelry with so much sentimental value attached. But hey, I have the capacity to make back what I lost and my laptop could do with an upgrade anyway. I just truly hope that what they did take from us helped them in the end and I hope for their sake that they will find another path that is more acceptable by society. I mean, it must have to eat at you somewhere, no matter the size of your conscience. Repeated sneaking around, watching your steps, the number of family pictures and personal items you come across and knowing that that is who you are stealing from - it has to soften you sooner or later.

So I really am not angry anymore, I am more annoyed that I have to clean up their mess and then soon deal with stingy insurance companies.

Geeeez.

They could have at least said thank you.