Dartblog

AbovetheLaw reports on a law student at Arizona State University who refused to give his precious outlines and case notes to a robber. The full news story is here, but the gist is that, confronted by a bat-wielding mugger, a student gave over his money, guitars, etc without blinking, but took a stand when he demanded the student’s computer, the life-blood of any student, containing hours of papers, resumes, applications, notes, outlines, music, photos, movies, and all the other stuff of life. The student, bravely and rightly, grabbed the bat and beat up the would-be mugger.

I have always thought that muggers/ thieves could be a bit nicer. I get the idea of stealing a person’s wallet, for the cash and maybe to use their credit cards, but wouldn’t it be nice if they would send back whatever they didn’t want? What, I wonder, could a pickpocket do with my Dartmouth student I.D. card or my driver’s license or any of the innumerable cards and papers that we invariably have. If, for the thief in New York or wherever else, it comes down to wanting free student admission to Dartmouth hockey games, I would gladly reimburse them the $6, and dispense with the hassle of getting a new I.D.

I used to joke with one of my friends that we should put a note to this effect in our wallets in advance, acceding to thief’s prerogative to take our money but asking for the return of these items, perhaps including a stamp. In the case that Dartblog can count among our readers any pickpockets, if you are not going to stop stealing, at the very least please do instill this little bit of common courtesy in your vocation.