'Feel good?' Criminals applying conscience selectively does not restore my faith in humanity

A sexual assault services office in San Bernardino County was burglarized July 31, causing thousands of dollars in damage and with thousands of dollars in office equipment stolen.

According to this ABC News story, “Inside, (the center’s director) said, the building’s telephone wires had been cut, its Internet connection was down and six computer towers, a laptop, speakers for the laptop, children’s story books and 100 bags of small candy had been stolen.”

Hours after the break-in the center’s director found a shopping cart outside the building containing the stolen items.

Now legions of news reporters - from NPR and Huffington Post to The Christian Post and FOX News are telling me this story is supposed to restore my faith in humanity due to the following note left inside one of the stolen laptops:

“We HAD

NO IDEA

what we were

takeing. Here

your stuff Back

we hope that

you guys can

continue to make

A DiffeRerence

in peoples Live

GOD Bless.”

Sorry folks, it ain't workin' for me. I get no warm fuzzies here.

What would restore my faith in humanity?

• If the burglar(s) had taken the note, the stolen items and him or her self(s) to the local police department and offered to do whatever necessary to make reparations for the damage caused, regardless of the type of services offered by the agency. Or even just turned themselves in to the agency.
• If these savvy burglar(s) – smart enough to break in through a utility area and not get electrocuted – enrolled in a local literacy program and worked toward learning how to read and write.
• If they hadn't closed with "God Bless." Really? A group of people dedicated to helping victims of sexual assault have now been blessed by the criminals who've taken resources away from the victims (in cost of repairing the damage to property and sense of security) and made their jobs that much harder?
• If there was no need for rape crisis centers.
• Or, even if any of the news agencies that reproduced the note in the text of their articles had done so accurately.
• How about if he/she/they didn't break into the office to begin with? That would have worked.

Criminals don't get a bye, especially not when their conscience is plaguing them. It means they knew that what they were doing was wrong in the first place.