Thieves do not always come cloaked in balaclavas or break-ins under the cover of night. In my experience, the most common thieves are those who move through life masked by politeness, charm and palatable appearances. Their disguises are not physical but behavioural.
The Mindset of a Thief
A thief operates from a place of lack. Their driver is greed and entitlement, not respect. They disregard agency - yours, mine or anyone’s - and instead, seek to devour what belongs to another.
Theirs is not a mindset of contribution, but of consumption. They feed on what they did not create and take what they did not earn.
What They Steal
Theft in today’s world is not always about material possessions. I have witnessed and experienced it on many levels:
- Ideas stolen to pass as one’s own.
- Identities copied for attention or advantage.
- Possessions taken without consent.
- Concepts and creativity used without acknowledgement.
- Confidence, dignity and self-worth aggressively targeted to make another feel powerful.
In the digital age, these crimes are amplified. I have seen contacts, personalities, even entire online identities stolen without accountability - all in the competition for attention.
A Crime Against Humanity
Whatever form it takes - material, psychological, social, emotional, spiritual or environmental - theft is a crime against one’s humanity. It demeans the giver, corrodes the taker and poisons the spaces in between.
The Immaturity Behind It
At the root, many thieves are adults still carrying unresolved childhood blockages. They remain trapped in survival mode, operating from wounds they have never healed. And so they play out aggressiveness, entitlement and dishonesty in social and relational spaces, never having learned healthier ways to navigate life.
It is a sad but common reality we have normalised, even within our closest circles. Too often, accountability is absent and harmful behaviours are excused as competition, ambition or survival.
How to Identify Them
Thieves often reveal themselves through patterns:
- A lack of respect for your boundaries and agency.
- An inability to celebrate your wins without trying to claim or copy them.
- Taking credit for what they did not contribute to.
- Competing where collaboration should exist.
- Consistently leaving you feeling drained, diminished or devalued.
Pay attention to these patterns. They are not inconveniences, they are signals.
An Invitation to Awareness
Though it may be difficult, identifying the thieves among us is an act of protection. Protecting your ideas, your worth, your spirit and your dignity is not selfish - it is necessary.
We cannot change the mindset of another, but we can take accountability for how we allow ourselves to be treated. And by doing so, we break cycles of normalised harm and reclaim our peace.