The 8th Commandment

The 8th Commandment

(A Poem by Sal Godoij.)

God said: You Shall Not Steal.

Because people somehow misunderstood this divine Commandment, God hereby clarifies what He meant.

So, please listen to what God have to say:

"Indeed, my children, you shall not steal

But first, allow me to clarify this Commandment

You must know that the 8th Commandment: You Shall Not Steal.

It's a redundancy of the 7th Commandment

"You shall not commit adultery."

About which I have already spoken

And, by extension

It's also a redundancy of the 10th Commandment

"You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbour."

I am aware of these redundancies

And how they may have confounded you, my rebellious children

They are my faults, yet my faults do not authorize you to act at will

So, coming back to 'You shall not steal,' which you do anyway

 (Well, not you particularly, but several of my children do steal)

I will explain why you do what you do

To begin with, you do what you do because you have no morals

Yet you have the opportunity, or you have an unsatisfied need

But, on the other hand, you want revenge

You want to take revenge, but for a cause

Not related to the object you are stealing

So then, you may be looking for self-satisfaction

See? When I wrote these commandments

To my dear child Moses, not long ago

I didn't think of these things

I didn't think of how complex you would become

I thought you would grow up and become adults, but I was wrong

Because you keep yourselves in the Season of Childhood

Which is not bad, but it's not normal because, at some point

You must grow up and face what you are

And that will be your real survival test

Anyhow, back to why you steal

Besides what I expressed above

You may be a kleptomaniac

Or you don't care about others' property

You are envious of your neighbour's property

You might also have a grudge against society

Or stealing must be an acquired bad habit

An impulse that a politician is weak to control

Now, on all the above, let me be clear, it's all your fault

Indeed, you are my children, but I cannot go further

I own your souls, yet I don't own your bodies

I don't own your seasons either, past, present, and future

Past, present, and future are well beyond my scope

Yet it's in-between seasons that you ask for miracles

Miracles won't happen if you don't heal yourselves

So, heal yourselves first from confusion

Then turn to me for your Salvation

And so, as a thief, you can steal lives, feelings

Time, property, work, knowledge, and thoughts

And you can even steal one kiss, but you cannot steal love

Neither can you steal health

Peace of mind, you cannot steal either

Happiness, yes, you can steal happiness

True, you do it all the time, most of the time

Why do you do that? It puzzles me so

Stolen happiness turns to ashes in your soul

Stolen happiness turns your soul into ashes

And in the absurd in which you wallow, I wonder

Why do you wallow in the absurd as in wonder? "