Am I a bad person?

[ryannathans@aussie.zone]

You gotta talk to a psych and get diagnosed

[fakir@lemm.ee]

You are a very good person, because you are reflective of your past, conscious of your actions, and have morals that gave you the guilt that you feel. You're alright little one.

[wuphysics87@lemmy.ml]

A poor political climate is no reason to avoid seeing a doctor

[idkwhatusernametoputherelolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Okay I don't have any advice except this:

If you have to steal, please only steal from big corporate chain stores, not the small bussiness.

Also, be careful, cameras are everywhere these days.

I'm not judging the act of theft, just where you steal from. Please only steal from the rich.

[tyrant@lemmy.world]

Also, spread theft around... A guy in Lowes was telling me they don't try and stop thieves until they rack up $10k of stuff so they can hit them with a bigger charge. Said they are using facial recognition and tracking that way now. Might have been full of shit but my dystopian mind thought it plausible.

[nicolahaskell@lemmy.ml]

I'll tap in for Brother Bear!

What are you trying to solve here beyond indulging guilt? Your last sentence is outright asking to be told you're bad. If you want validation or excuse for that you can go to confession or seek diagnosis (which might fairly fit into your plan, I'm not judging).

You say, "If you steal from someone ... saying sorry doesn’t do much for me because if you were sorry, you wouldn’t have done it in the first place." I hear, "avoidance". Apologies are promises, commitments, and covenants, not regret and remorse. Simply Feeling Bad is the relinquished barfly's philosophy and doesn't accomplish much but prolonging the bad feeling.

Talking anonymously online or in person can be a healthy start to validate and work through both the stealing and the secrecy, but growing beyond those releases all The Stuff so you can exist honestly and authentically with your pack.

[lattrommi@lemmy.ml]

Something I've heard in different ways goes something like this: A young man wanted a bike so he prayed to his god for a bike but never got it. So he stole the bike and prayed for forgiveness.

You already know the answer to your question. The (rhetorical) question now, is what will you do going forward?

[marcie@lemmy.ml]

Mask up

[menemen@lemmy.ml]

Yeah, but I'd aggree with MissJinx. Lots of teenagers occasionally shoplift. But stealing a significant amount of money from your brother is imo defintly a big red flag.

Still, going open with it is a really great step imo. But I'd also say, that if you ever again feel that urge, professional help would be a good idea.

[bongles@lemm.ee]

That might be true, but in this post you say you were doing it only a year ago and still fight the urge to shoplift so it's probably still worth looking into.

[tetris11@lemmy.ml]

(Semi-related story, but unhelpful to OP:) when I was a child, I got tired of seeing the news coverage of Royal Family shenanigans on seemingly every single channel. So I did what any child did, and got down on one knee and prayed to God to kill Princess Diana. One week later, she was dead. The guilt stayed with me for a while.

The (real) question then was, what do I do going forward? The answer: Never pray again.

[tetris11@lemmy.ml]

Judgement:

• Stealing from family is super wrong.
• Stealing from strangers is wrong.
• Stealing from small delis and family-owned business is wrong.
• Stealing from supermarkets and retailers? Eh.

[vfreire85@lemmy.ml]

you could be a kleptomaniac. i'd check out a psychiatrist if i were you.

[slazer2au@lemmy.world]

If the multi billion dollar company employees need food stamps to live. Steal away.

[slazer2au@lemmy.world]

Also, don't steal in your local area.

[corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca]

My sister started a pet store. Took her 1 year to plan it all out and get it lined up. And she opened.

Theft was a constant problem from day one. Kids would steal aquarium filters and similarly pointless stuff. She installed cameras. She reported them to the cops. Nothing fucking changed.

She bailed out after a few years when the lease came up, losing her shirt but not her house, and now manages a vet hospital owned by some vets. They have no end of customers but definitely a list.

Steal from a retailer like that makes it okay? Just fuck you.