Yesterday was the day that brave soldiers were remembered over the whole world. World War I ended exactly 90 years ago. It was a trench war which claimed more than 10 million lives.
Last Sunday, on Remembrance Sunday, burglars stole the medal of William Houghton in a village in Staffordshire (UK). This man fought in World War I and for his bravery, he got the third highest military decoration.
The medal was a family heirloom. It now belonged to Anna Houghton, the daughter-in-law of William Houghton. Her deceased husband was the son of William. The burglars also stole the television and jewellery of Anna, but she was really shocked when she saw that the burglars also took the medal. She told ‘The Telegraph’ that the medal was her husbands must precious possession.
I read this small article while searching other cases, but it affected me. Why do burglars steal such a medal? I think the medal isn’t worth much, but emotionally it must have a priceless value for the relatives, just like photographs or other heirlooms which remind of the past. Stealing is wrong and punishable by law, but stealing objects were people are attached to is, according to me, worse than stealing other material goods.
These burglars didn’t show any respect, even not for the hero’s of the country. I want to mention another situation which is for me even more disrespectful: the fact that burglars search for death announcements in newspapers, to go to the addresses of the relatives and to steal during the funeral and the following lunch.
Source:
BRITTEN, N., Burglars steal WWI hero’s medal on Remembrance Sunday. Internet. The Telegraph, November 10 2008.
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3418479/Burglars-steal-WWI-heros-medal-on-Remembrance-Sunday.html)
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Burglars are pitiful people. The most important thing for them is to have as much catch as possible. I think they absolutely didn't knew there was any moral value on the medal. They just took everything that could be taken. All the expensive things, the jewerly and everything that looks like gold or looks valuable. The burglars simply didn't know, I don't justify them, not at all. But this is bad luck of the surviving relatives that they just had to take that one little thing. I wouldn't also be pleased at all but it is just something you can't do anything about. You can't ask people to put the medal in a vault or somewhere else. Those are true memories and they are preferably close to you and where you can see them. It is just a case of solving the burglerproblem.
(by Greet Heyse)
I also found it awful that burglars stole the man’s medal because of the great value it has for the family and him. But I wonder if the burglars really know that this medal has such a great value to the family. I can’t imagine that they have thought about it. I think that they really focus on things that are having sum worth and I don’t think that they want to hurt him on purpose.
But the question still remains: why have they done it? Maybe because they thought that there was a value to it and that they could make money with it? It’s always worse to loose things where you are attached to. There are also a few things that I would never loose. But you have to keep the real memories in your heart and mind. There a lot of people who cling to objects and that isn’t always good. But in this case I understand that the medal had an priceless value that can never be replaced by something else. Especially with older people, they talk a lot about the past and loosing something that remind them to the past will cause a lot of pain.
(By Hanne Snoeck)
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