On Any Given Sunday
On Any Given SundayEvery Sunday, my friend Moe, and I used to spend our free time at the mall or the town center. The next day, at school, Moe would have pockets full of stationary items such as pens, pencils, etc. to hand out to other people at school. I thought it was no big deal at the time but later on, it got out of hand. One day, we went inside a stationary store called Farr¡¯s. In there, I would often buy a pen or pencil while Moe just walked around. He took such a long time getting his supplies that instead of waiting for him I went next door to Rite Aid and got myself an ice cream cone. We met outside and I asked him what he got. He showed me a laser pointer and some gel pens. I asked him if he had bought those things, and he said he did. Since he was my friend, I believed him.
Moe and I went to the same church together every Sunday; his parents would pick me up since my dad was out of town. Sometimes, we would skip church and go to a nearby arcade called Golf N¡¯ Stuff. Some of our friends from church were there also. One of our friends, Daniel, came by asking if we wanted a lock, food, etc. that he had gotten from the gift shop. Then he asked if we wanted to go with him to steal some stuff. I said that I just wanted to play games, but Moe went with him to see how he did it. Sometimes, I would get suspicious, but I didn¡¯t say anything.
Usually, after church, we used to either hang out at his house, play video games, or go across the street to his old school to play sports. Sometimes we would go to a store called Costco with his parents. When we got home, we would play some CDs he got while in the store. Other times, we would go to Wal*Mart to play some arcade games. While I was playing, he said he wanted to go get something. I was involved in the game too much to even notice him talking to me. When we left to go to the movies, he showed me a magic trick he got. I thought it was pretty cool to watch, so I asked him how he did it. He later showed me the instructions that came with the package. He continued to show me a variety of items from every store we went to for almost a year. I had a hunch that he was stealing them, but I didn¡¯t say anything to him so that I wouldn¡¯t jeopardize our friendship.
On one Sunday, we decided to meet some people at a bowling alley. When we were hungry and thirsty, Moe went next door to a supermarket to get us our food. He went there a couple of times before we saw the store manager chasing him. That was when I found out that he had been shoplifting. We tried to get him away but the manager caught him and took him back to his store. Outside the window, we watched but couldn¡¯t hear anything. We saw him call someone. Assuming he was calling the cops we decided to go home and not get involved. I didn¡¯t see him until June, but by that time I had to leave for Ohio. We didn¡¯t talk about the incident. I guess he was too ashamed to talk about it. After saying good-bye to everyone, I went aboard the plane. On the seat, I started to think of what happened that year.
Moe wasn¡¯t my closest friend, but what happened to him still affected me. In the beginning, I couldn¡¯t believe that he would steal, but after the bowling alley incident, I began to suspect that he was really stealing. However, I avoided talking to him about it because I felt uncomfortable. Flying on the plane, I felt lousy. Sort of like a guilty conscience. I knew what he had done was wrong, but what I should have done as a friend was to talk about it to him. What kind of a friend was I to avoid the situation when I should have tried to talk to him about his problem. I felt badly that I hadn¡¯t opened my mouth when I first became suspicious about him. Looking back on it now I think that Moe was stealing because he wanted to fit in with other kids. Now I¡¯ve changed my mind about feeling responsible for Moe. Sometimes, when someone is hurt, their frustration or anger is displayed throughout outrageous actions, so I feel that he had the punishment coming to him from the moment he started stealing. Sometimes a person can do bad things, not because they were hurt, but because they are irresponsible and immoral.