When one of your possessions goes missing, often the feeling of personal loss over something you need and use in your life trumps the anger you might feel toward a thief. Like maybe the perp wouldn’t take your item if he or she knew what it meant to you, but it’s gone so that’s that. But in the case of a couple who needed their stolen tandem bike and counted on it to get around, it seems the thief actually did realize he’d done wrong.

Earlier this week The Columbian highlighted the story of a couple who, because both are developmentally delayed, can’t drive. The wife had felt uneasy riding around alone, so the husband had traded in his single bike for a tandem so the two could go everywhere together.

One morning the couple woke to find the bike’s lock had been cut from the front porch of their Vancouver home and the $900 tandem taken, suddenly shrinking the couple’s world.

But then, reports WNYC, their story spread and the community reacted by setting up a donation account at the bank for a new bike, as well as an online fundraising effort and a donated tandem from another couple. Even the thief was paying attention to how he’d disrupted their lives.

Three days after the bike was boosted, it was returned with a note:

“I bring this back 2 you because I am truly sorry and hope you can forgive me. I am trying to do the right thing.”

And lest anyone should think maybe someone else found the bike, it’s signed, “Guilty.”

The wife’s mom, who lives with the couple, says she was able to catch a glimpse of the thief returning the bike, and felt grateful instead of angry.

“Everybody makes mistakes in their lives,” she said, even though the bike is now too damaged to ride. “I hope he genuinely felt guilty and this had that big of an impact on him.”

Bicycle theft hurts two [The Columbian]
Couple’s Tandem Bike Is Stolen, And Returned, After Thief Feels Guilty [WNYC]

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