Stop me if you've heard this one before...

Why is it that no matter how hard you try to teach people you end up seeming like the bad guy? I mean, is it so wrong to correct someone when they're committing wrong-doing or morally skewed actions? Take for example my work. I have several co-workers who find it a virtue to cheat other stores by pretending to be working there. Just so they can get something free. What is wrong with this picture? It just seems so morally apathetic, so abysmally atrocious, so outrageously oppressing. I can understand the reasoning behind such actions, but come on, have these individuals have no sense of pride? Have they no sense of what is right and wrong? Oh sure, they're not really hurting anybody but if the situations were reversed would they feel just as validated then? Would they appreciate it if they were the ones losing money?

It is not, however, what is just at stake. No, there is something more pressing with such actions; I briefly covered on it on the previous paragraph. I speak of the morality of these people. Where do they learn these tactics? Who in their right mind would set such an abhorrent example for the future of the world? Yes, we were all young once, and yes there were always times when we didn't have money to buy what we wanted, but we never went to such lengths...at least I didn't. If I did not have the funds to purchase what I was craving I did not get it. I never pretended to be somebody else or falsified any claims in order to achieve my intentions. No, I knew better sense than that. I was kind of hoping that people these have more sense than we did back then. Apparently, it has not changed. In fact, if anything, it has gotten worse. A lot worse. People are no longer concerned about others. They only care for one person: themselves.

So, the question now lies: How do we get these persons to see the point I am making? How do we ingrain in them a sense of honor and pride in their work, so that they no longer commit such heinous actions? Am I correct in feeling this way, or do I have no right to tell others what it is they can or cannot do? What, as an individual, should I do? I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around these people, like everything I say to them will be construed negatively, making it out to seem like a personal attack. That is not what I mean at all. I just want these people to learn that it is not right. I need them to learn that what they are doing is damaging, not only to the people they interact with but within themselves...Most of all, I just want them to know that I am disappointed, that my trust in humanity has just taken another blow, that my picture of the things we are capable of have gotten darker. It may not matter to them, but that is all right. At least in my heart, I strive to follow what is right...