French in Action

I thought it would be a good idea to wait until I was in a foreign country to be robbed. Cambriolage. There, I said it, and I think that this is the way to get past it. Sorry that I have not posted in a long time; you know why now. My one personal corner in France, my one enclave, was violated by someone I don't know (or do I?) and emptied of everything of value.

I am fine, physically, and most importantly, mentally. I was not earlier last week. I came back from a day-long, Rotary conference constituting the very reason I am in France, to discover behind my still locked apartment door that the most cowardly crime, robbery, had been committed in my absence. I found my balcony door open, the rain pouring in.

The value of the things I lost number in the 1000's of dollars. Camera, video equipment, my telephone, and even my paper towels. Apparently the thug needed super absorbency. Among the lost items most precious was my laptop. Gone forever, it contained those things most unable to replaced: memories, in the form of photos, songs, and documents. Maybe the robber was especially interested in my photographic documentation of my last trip to Grindewald, Switzerland.

The coward left, however, my external hard drive, which I believe will enable me to recover some of what I have lost.

Only once did I think that I wanted to come home --- as I waited for the police to arrive. I wanted to be back home to express my range in my native language.

The police responded quickly and through a professional, thoughtful assessment of the situation, concluded that the coward had indeed entered my balcony via the roof through a window at the end of my outside hallway. He had accessed both my balcony and my neighbor's. The coward struck both of us, which means that my vitriol can be shared, but only unfortunately.

I can, and have, repurchased most of what was taken.

One might say, then, that no one suffered any real loss; it was an insured loss, and save for the emotional pain and loss of an intangible sense of security or naiveté, I come out the same.

Because this blog is supposed to be about economics and ethics, I've thought about this reaction from many whom I have shared my situation with. Many friends have said that time is, in the end, the only thing really lost in this situation due to insurance.

But this is not true. Putting aside the intangible losses, thousands of dollars were still lost, in net. The positive outlook espoused by many people in this situation makes me feel better, but expresses the broken window fallacy. The coward took value without paying for it, creating a net loss. He probably, on top of this, is using my assets inefficiently. Thieves have a way of being inefficient at all things except, apparently, acrobats in my 8th floor apartment.

For example, the coward took my video camera, with which I used to make youtube videos. I have an outstanding 353 views for a particular video, most of which consist of me pressing the reload and replay keys. Still, for the 5 people other than my family or me who did watch a youtube video I made, some value was provided by something I made with the camera. Because cowards and thugs lack creative capacity (and destroy creative capacity), they take value. I will rescind this comment if the user IstoleAndysStuff creates an interesting video.

In short, I have accepted my robbery. I have moved past my self-loathing: what if I had taken my computer that morning? What if I had put my camera in a locked drawer? What if I had rented a rabid attack-tiger to guard my stuff?

Though I still have no such pets (cats are illegal in my apartment complex), the coward did not succeed. The thug did not take my health, my joy, or my clothes. They would be difficult to replace here, and I really, really like my clothes. Thus, though the thief may be rich from selling all of my other things, I know that he is not stylish. In this situation, this is maybe the most I can ask for.