Text:

My grandmother used to say whenever we left something valuable in plain sight to hide it so as to not make good people thieves. So like, if there were construction workers or strangers of any kind in the house we’d all go and hide all the valuables and lock stuff up intensely so as not to tempt anyone into thievery. The concept is that if something gets stolen from you it’s your responsibility for tempting the thief I guess.

Background:

Like I said it was my grandmother who told me about this when I was little. Since she passed on, my mom hasn’t ever really mentioned it, but I notice that she still does it pretty much every time my grandma would have. I think it’s maybe a way that she honors my grandma? I don’t know if that’s important, but it’s just the kinda vibe I get.

Context:

Whenever less fortunate people came over was mainly when it would happen. Like construction workers or whatever, people we didn’t know. Salesmen sometimes, unless the wore suits or looked nice.

My Thoughts:

I think it’s really interesting that in Western culture we always blame the thief for their actions but in this tradition it places the blame on the people whose property gets stolen for tempting the thief. I think this look at cultural differences is apparent because the informant’s grandma believed strongly in it while the informant’s mother only kept it up to honor her own mother. I doubt the informant herself will keep this tradition up now that she has been Westernized.