Dear Bike Thief,
You stole my daughter’s bike today. She’s seven years old. Today was her first day of second grade. I took her and her younger brother and sister out for dinner to celebrate, and that’s when you came and swiped her bike. I have to give you some credit for doing it in broad daylight- that was gutsy. Lucky for us, a neighbor across the street saw you and yelled at you. Then she called the police. She said you were just a boy. Other neighbors saw the police cars in front of our house and police officers knocking on the door. They called me and that’s how we found out. You should have seen the sad look on my daughter’s face when she learned that her bike was missing. Her first verbal response was that she really liked that bike because she loved going on bike rides with her grandpa. She just learned how to ride it without training wheels this summer. The day before her seventh birthday, her grandpa took her outside after dinner, took the training wheels off, and taught her how to ride. I’ll never forget the joy and excitement I felt for her, watching her ride training wheels-free for the first time. The smile on her face was so big; she beamed with self-pride. That was also the first bike she fell off of and got a bloody knee. She has many precious memories with that bike, as do I. Shame on you for stealing a tangible piece of her childhood memories.
I don’t know if you stole the bike to make a few bucks, or if you’ve posted it on craigslist hoping to get a buyer (but believe you-me, I’ll be checking for postings that match the bike’s description). My almost-five year old daughter thinks you took it so you could give it to your little sister who really wanted a pink bike. I think she’s giving you too much credit for kindness. Regardless the reason; no matter who has it now, I hope they enjoy it as much as my daughter did. I hope you tell the new owner how you came to acquire it. Then you can tell them how sad the previous owner is. Her innocent little seven year-old brain is trying to comprehend why someone would want to steal anything from anyone. But worse than that, she feels scared. She’s afraid you are going to come back. She doesn’t want to go anywhere in the house by herself. Her personal space has been violated and she feels vulnerable. Let that run through your head the next time you think about stealing another bike.
I’ve learned my lesson- all the other bikes, tricycles, wagons, and scooters that were on our front porch are now locked in the garage. They will stay there until I get a lock to keep them secure on the porch. My two year old son learned a lesson from your actions, too. He said he wanted to punch you. I told him we should always be nice to people, even when they do not-nice things to us. Then he said he would hug you instead. Maybe if you got more hugs today you wouldn’t have wanted to steal my daughter’s bike. So if you decide to come back around, perhaps you’ll want to put that pink bike back on the porch where you found it. Then you can knock on my door and we’ll all give you a big hug.
Sincerely,
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