Originally Posted by
banjo_mole
Great argument, pal!
Your false equivocation of wives and bicycles certainly makes your argument a sound one!
What if the owner of the locked up bicycle is dead? What then?
Is it still his to keep?
Or what if the owner lives in Oregon, doesn't give a damn about the bike, and isn't going to return for it, ever?
Hmm?
I argue that the OP should do his research. Ask a landlord if he knows whose it is.
Or let a maintainence man cut it off and haul it to the dump.
What about people that leave their bike locks on a rack and never get them?
Most of us have seen those racks covered in rusty locks.
Should the maintainence people who take those locks (someone's property) be charged for theft?
Or is the cutting of those locks at the discretion of the owner of the bike rack?
Likewise, would the removal of an abandonded bike be at the discretion of the owner of the land on which the bicycle is locked, in the extended, indefinite absence of the owner of the bicycle?
Or, as you said, bikes = wives.
It doesn't matter if the owner is dead, in Oregon, or in prison. What matters is that the bike does not belong to the person rationalizing how they can make it okay to take.
What the heck is the matter leaving something alone that doesn't belong to you? Where is the injustice in that? All this nonsense about wanting to save or wanting to preserve the bike is a just rhetoric to justify taking something that belongs to someone else.
They may have moved. Its possible. They may be dead. Its possible. They may be in prison for a very long time. They may be in Iraq. They may be on a religious mission. They may be in the Peace Corps, on Sabbatical, or really anywhere. It doesn't matter.
The simple fact is it doesn't belong to the person that just wants it. Barring actually getting in touch with the rightful owner, leave the bike alone.
At the end of the day its there because that is where the owner left it. Their claim to the bike doesn't terminate upon the failure of your character to suppress your covetous nature.
oh...and don't complain when karma visits and makes things right in kind, either.