That's Stealing (1985)

[Music] [Music] [Music] This is the story of two friends, Kathy and Heather. This is also a story about stealing. Hello, my name is Adrienne Doyle. I'm a police officer. We all know that stealing, taking something that doesn't belong to you and keeping it is wrong. And if you wind up getting caught, you'll be in trouble. But there's something else to think about, too, and that's trust. That's what this story is about. Trust. And what happens to trust when a person begins stealing? Heather and Kathy usually walk home together, but today Kathy is walking home by herself. She's thinking about her friendship with Heather. Trust and a little gold locket. I told you not to take your locket to school. Did that lock get lost? I don't think it was lost. What do you mean? I thought I might lose it at PE, so I put it in my desk while I went out into the yard with the other kids. When we came back from PE, I forgot to put it back on. I remembered it just before the bell rang to go home, but when I looked at my desk, it was gone. Somebody stolen somebody from your class. Did you tell Mrs. Haynes? The rocket wasn't that expensive. It's not that big of a deal, Kathy. Stealing is stealing. It doesn't matter if you take something small or something big. It's important for you to understand that. And it's important for whoever took the locket to understand that as well. I guess you're right. But can I try and handle this, please? Well, okay. But I want you to tell me what you decide. Dear Heather, I've decided to write this letter to you because it's hard for me to say what I have to say. We've been friends for so long, but I think we won't be friends anymore. At least I don't think we can be the same kind of friends. Maybe if I done something sooner, I wouldn't be writing this letter to you now. Maybe I should have said something way last fall. That's when I first suspected something. But at the time it didn't seem like a big [Music] deal. Wonder what took you so long. Mrs. Haynes made me stay after and feed the turtles. Billy got sick at lunch and had to go home. Where did you get the marker? I bought it. When you didn't have it this morning, what really happened is I found it. Where? What difference does it make? It's not yours, is it? No. I just wonder. Come on. My mom's going to be mad about me being late. How about the turtles? She wouldn't want the turtles to starve, would she? How come you had to feed the stupid turtles anyway? I told you Billy got sick. I think you fed your turtles for Billy cuz you like him. I do not. It was the first couple of weeks in the new school year. There are boys and turtles and all kinds of things to think about. Too many things to be all that worried about where a felt marker came from. Anyway, like you said, I didn't lose the marker. What difference did it make where it came from? Then about two weeks later, something else happened. You acted like it was nothing important, but we both knew it was. So my mom goes, "You can't have your ears pierced until you're 16. Why don't you just do it until it was an accident?" Oh, right. She's really going to believe that someone pulled holes in my ears by mistake. Well, if you have pierced ears, you could wear these. Where did you get those? in this department store. $10. You didn't have enough money for these. I know. I just took them. You swiped them. I didn't steal them or anything. They were on the floor. Somebody had knocked them off the display counter. If I hadn't picked them up, somebody would have stepped on them and they would have been wrecked anyway. Yeah, but you could have just put them back. Jeez, Kathy. The store only had about 500 pairs of these on sale. You think they're going to miss two clum earrings? They don't even know they're gone. Was it stealing? I mean, stealing is a pretty heavy word. It didn't seem like taking the earrings was the same thing exactly. But like my mom said, taking anything that belongs to someone else is [Music] stealing. It's funny that day at the mall, I thought about you taking the earrings. And what if you had been caught and what would happen to you? What I didn't think about was what the whole thing was doing to our friendship. I mean, a friend is someone you trust all the time. Always. Everyone, could you take your seats, please, and give me your attention? Ronald is missing a magnifying glass. It's about this big. It was on his desk just a few minutes ago. Did anyone take it? Perhaps one of you borrowed the magnifying glass. That's understandable. But Ron would like to know who has it. Boys and girls, this is very serious because if someone didn't borrow it or take it by mistake, the only thing I can think of is that someone stole it. I would hate to think that anyone in this room would do anything like that. So during recess, please think about this. What were you looking at me for? I wasn't looking at you. I'm really sure you weren't looking at me, Kathy. You'd think I ripped off Ronnie's stupid magnifying glass. I didn't say that. But you think it, right? I don't know. Well, I know who took it. And it wasn't me. Well, who was it then? It wasn't me. Besides, if I told you, you tell Mrs. H. It's like I can't trust you anymore. Up until that minute, I had thought that I was the one who couldn't trust you. But then I realized that you couldn't trust me either. and up. Stretch away over. Shoulders down and up. Reach past your foot. Heel forward and up. Stretch away. Keep that hip down. Reach forward. Are you going to take the second class? No, I'm too tired. I think I'll just go home. Yeah, me too. Look, what I said yesterday, I didn't mean it. I know you wouldn't do anything like Thomas's hands. Even if I had swiped the stupid magnifying glass. Yeah, sure. Maybe I will stay firm. Take your foot. Reach past your foot. Hurry up. It's a funny thing when trust starts to go. I found myself thinking about really silly little things like that magic marker you had way last fall. Did you really find it? Two weeks ago, somebody swiped a library book from Julie's locker. Where were you when that happened? These are questions that friends shouldn't have to ask about one another. That is, unless they don't trust each other anymore. All right, class. Let's get ready for PE. Something happened at school today. It's funny. For last year, I never would have thought that you had anything to do with it. Now, I don't know. [Applause] Are you My turn. Where did he go? Later, I found out that someone had taken my locket from my desk. Suddenly, I found myself asking those questions about you. Where were you? Were you really in the restroom? I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want friends that I have to ask questions like that about. I want friends I can trust. Well, I can see why you wanted to handle this yourself. So, you and Heather won't be friends anymore. Is that it? What about the other kids that have had things taken? What about Heather? What if she keeps on taking things that don't belong to her? Do you want me to tell on her? I couldn't do that. Well, I just thought there might be something else besides just washing your hands of the whole thing. Hey, Cathy, how come you didn't meet me after school? I wrote you a letter, but maybe I should just tell you what. Somebody swiped my locket while we were at PE. And you think I took it? You ripped off other stuff, not from friends. What do you think I am? I know what you are, Heather. I know it. Maybe other people know it, too. Jeez. Stealing is stealing. No matter whether it's from friends or people you don't know at all. If you think I took your locket, prove it. I can't prove you took it. The problem is I can't prove you didn't. What was stolen in this story? The things that were taken were not all that expensive. A marker, maybe a magnifying glass, maybe a locket. But the important thing that was stolen was the friendship between Kathy and Heather. Kathy's mom had an interesting point. Was it enough for Kathy to say to Heather, "I can't be friends with you anymore and just walk away." I mean, eventually, if Heather keeps taking things, people are going to become suspicious of her. And sooner or later, Heather will be caught. When that happens, her parents will be called in. Certainly, she'll have to pay for or return everything that she took. She may even get suspended from school. That could be very embarrassing for Heather, for her parents, and maybe even for Kathy. Why for Kathy? Because Kathy knew first. Perhaps it was something else that could have been done besides just turning around and walking away. If you were Kathy, what would you say to your friend? [Music]