As a rule, I do not find those jokey anecdotes about dumb criminals funny, the Readers Digest kind of humor about some stick-up guy who includes his phone number, or whatever, in the note in a bank heist. Et cetera. Every once in while, in an incident where no one gets hurt – like the time some guy tried to rob a bank on a Friday afternoon, when several cops and Fibbies were waiting in line for their paychecks, and they all basically rushed him – okay. But usually, not.

 
This Xmas, someone got hold of one of my VISA card numbers, a first for me. My credit union handled it well – noticed the unusual charges even before they were posted, and called me one bright morning to tell me that the card would be stopped and they’d be issuing me a new one.

 
There was something pathetic about the purchases. They were all for items from places like KayBee Toys, Disney, etc – things I have absolutely no need for. The biggest news in my life right now is that I am adjusting to being an empty nester, my wonderful child having graduated from college last spring and moved to the West Coast. Anyway, it looked to me as though this credit card thievery was probably for the sake of buying Christmas presents, for some child or children, and it looked rather pitiful if irritating.

 
Worse, today a set of Disney DVDs arrived in the mail – at my house. Apparently the purchaser couldn’t even get the Disney items shipped to his/her own address.

 
I hate theft, but I have to admit I do hope that this person does not land in jail for this stuff. Restitution would be better, especially if there actually are children in the picture. We are not living in the Middle Ages, after all.

 
Presumably Disney will want me to ship the movies somewhere; I’ll inquire, when I retrieve the energy to do so. Right now I’m using my emotional resources other ways. As a friend said, we spend so much energy teaching our children self-reliance and independence, but then when they strike out, we can’t help feeling sad.

 
Still I am forced to recognize that a little elegiac sadness of this sort is incomparably better than what Iraqi parents are facing, and the poor Afghanis, and others. At least my nest is empty, so to speak, by choice and in the natural course of things. And I have the benefit of my parents’ frugality, so that according to theory my senior years will be taken care of financially. The way this administration is managing, that future will be all but unknown to the entire middle class, if things keep going as they are at present.