Help Yourself
I moved to a small rural town where everyone knows everyone. The townspeople love to inject the “will of the Lord” into everything. It’s quite annoying. I was just some random guy nobody knew.
Last year was my first time having a garden and I was so proud of my tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. I told a trusted neighbor to help herself to some of my crops.
When the time came to pick a bunch of tomatoes and peppers, I went to the garden and found it absolutely picked clean from the day before. Knowing that the frail old lady didn’t do this, I set up cameras in the garden to catch the thieves in the act.
Over the course of a week, I caught four different fully-grown adults on camera snooping and taking from my garden.
I did some research and found out that all but one of them worked full-time and they were in no need of food or financial assistance. I left the needy family out of this.
I went to the community Facebook page with 5,000 members and posted pictures of them stealing from my garden with the caption: “God blessed me with this beautiful bounty and I’m so thankful he led the less fortunate and hungry to my garden to nourish their HONEST souls.”
I sat back, and watched the notifications and hate comments fly. Never again has a tomato been picked without someone asking.