I am a believer in property rights, and do NOT condone theft. Yet I just read how "traumatized" the Ecclestone heiress [translate: did nothing to earn wealth] feels about the theft of jewelry valued at more than 50 million pounds [Over $66.6 M] from her 55 room Kensington mansion. I can understand that this is a "news" story, but find little that moves me emotionally.
First, anyone keeping jewelry of that value around the house [instead of a bank safe deposit vault] is not very bright and responsible, or has lost all perspective as to wealth and value. No doubt a sense of entitlement has blinded the heiress to the reality that "real" people do not have such valuables at hand, and if they did they would take steps to secure them. Second, this example of wealth inequality and flaunted consumption warrants little sympathy, particularly when one has done nothing to earn or create the wealth. How great a "loss" is it truly for someone who invested nothing, sacrificed nothing nor contributed anything to the generation of the value of the items stolen. Third, the heiress will doubtless recover insurance funds for unrecoverable jewels and likely go right out an spend the money on similarly useless and unproductive baubles. While a few of the trinkets may have sentimental value, it is difficult to believe any protestation of "loss" when one has demonstrated so little sense of "value." Inconvenience, perhaps, but a deep sense of loss is hard to envision.
