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My City, Gen-Next, Article

A Situational Thief

For Timothy, someone’s life is more important than a few thousand dollars. When Timothy saw Matt in the hospital bed...
By Ichhya Neupane

Once upon a time, a very hardworking but less privileged family used to live in the countryside. When the boy was born, he brought a lot of happiness to the family and was the only child. His parents named him Robbie and from the day one his parents promised that they would try their best and hardest to keep him safe, educated, and make him a great citizen. Robbie grew up normally and he was now a young man. Like every parent his parents did everything they could to make him better and smarter. Robbie was aware of his parents’ dedication and daily life, so he understood the limitations. However, he couldn’t do what he wanted and what his friends could do. Robbie's dad, Matt, works for a rich businessman/social worker, Timothy, as a house assistant, and would always work hard at his job so he could get his family what they needed to survive! 


Matt worked for Timothy for his whole life, but Robbie did not know where his dad had been working yet. Matt used to visit his family in the village when he got the chance. Robbie finished his high school with barely a passing grade but could not continue his college education due to his family economic situation. Also, he did not have much skills to earn money. As he was growing up his parents were getting older. At once, Matt’s health was slowly deteriorating and his mom, Rina, suffered with another severe illness and one day he went through something that was very difficult to see. His parents got sick at the same time so they were brought to a hospital with the help of neighbors. Robbie was willing to do whatever it took to treat them and get them back home. As Matt was the only person whocould earn in his family, Robbie did not get any idea how to treat his parents. He cried miserably thinking about what to do. The family neither had much savings nor insurance to pay for their entire treatment. When the hospital informed Robbie that he needs $5000 to treat his parents, Robbie's heart crashed. This amount is a ton of money and out of capacity for Robbie. 


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Robbie cried days and nights as he couldn’t find a solution to get money. His parents were in a critical condition. Next day he decided to make a cardboard sign saying, “Please help me. I need money to treat my ill parents. They are in the ICU. Please kindly help!”. He sat on the road and waited for several hours. People passed and drove by and saw Robbie begging for help but no one cared. Few people donated a bit of cash. However, the amount he collected was not enough to pay the hospital bill. There was no hope of getting more on time and he could not spend weeks in hope of getting more as he needed tons of money immediately. Robbie walked to the hospital’s bed where his parents were admitted and laying down helplessly as his eyes began to water. He had no hope in himself that he would be able to get the money. He had no choice but to save his parents and suddenly something came up in his mind. That's all he could do.


It was a mighty cold night and the rain was pouring. It was 12:30 am and Robbie was awake. He had an all-black outfit with gloves. No one could probably see him in the dark. He got his shoes and went outside. He walked till he found a mansion. It was huge but he wanted to try. He slammed the window and climbed inside the house. Just then a man woke up. While Robbie was opening a cabinet in the living room the man woke up. Robbie heard the sounds of footsteps coming into the room. He looked for the nearest exit. However, it was too late. The man already spotted him. He was a tragic mess. 


“H - Hello.” the man said. He was nervous that Robbie would hurt him. The man asked nervously “who are you and why are you here?” At first glance the thief threatened the owner of the mansion. While trembling the men asked the thief cleverly and politely “Well there had to be a clear reason for that. What caused you to do this? A thief is just made, it's made for a reason.” He had already locked all the automatic doors in the mansion so the thief could not escape. He reminded the thief that the police always monitor his house 24 hours through surveillance camera and police would come in a minute and put him into jail. The thief remembered his ill parents and started to cry and put his head in his foot begging for his pardon. When the man saw the thief crying, the man tried to study him.


The man asked the thief “if you would like me not to call the police, then tell me the truth about how and why you came to steal from my house”. The thief truly introduced himself as Robbie from a poor family. Then he started to explain how he came to this situation. He was soaked in the rain and was shivering while he was speaking. He seemed weak and was not able to eat for days when he was searching for help to treat his parents. When the rich man, Timothy, heard Robbie’s story his heart melted and offered some food, he promised to help Robbie to treat his parents. The amount needed for their treatment is not a big deal for a rich and big-hearted man like Timothy. In the middle of the night, Timothy drove his Porsche with Robbie and went to the hospital to see Robbie’s parents.


For Timothy, someone’s life is more important than a few thousand dollars. When Timothy saw Matt in the hospital bed, he was shocked because the man in the bed was no other than his house assistant who worked for him for his entire life. Immediately he paid all hospital bills and deposited some extra money to treat Robbie's parents. He regrets not enquiring his whereabouts after Matt did not return from his home for several months. “I am very sorry for what's happening to you right now. You worked for me almost your entire life but I did not pay much attention to your economic condition and I wanted to offer you some bank balance of 20,000 dollars including all bills in this hospital. While the Timothy was telling this Robbie and his parents’eyes were pouring. Robbie’s heart melted. No one was believing if it was a dream or real. “Do you really mean 20,000 dollars?” Robbie asked in shock. “Yes” the man said happily. “That means so much to us. I'm very happy that you're doing this for me. Thank you so much!” Robbie said. “Of course. Glad to help” the rich man said.

It was the 3rd week of hospitalization and Timothy paid all the hospital's bills to release Robbie’s parents. Now, Robbie had to see if his parents got fully recovered and finally would be able to come home. It was the 28th day after hospitalization, the doctors called Robbie. They said his parents were all recovered and they could be released from the hospital the next day. He was so grateful and happy once he heard that news. He went to the Timothy’s house and said thank you again. 

From that day he promised to never steal ever again and he decided to join a campaign that works for health and education for needy people led by the rich business man, Timothy, who helped him. A thief is always made by a situation, not because they were made as one. 

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