Shredding

There's a paranoia these days about
identity theft.
We shred everything.

What does that mean
when someone
steals
you?

Floating through the darkness
in my capsule of metal
and plastic
and glass
that is as
comfortable as
a living room,
I thought about the people who
would steal my identity.
Who are they?
I imagined a reporter saying,
"Why they are people just like
you and I."
But then I thought, "No they're not.
They have somehow acquired a value
system that says's it's OK to steal."
Maybe they're like the con-artists of
years and years ago. But more organized
and less subtle. It seems like the vastness
of the internet makes the brute-force
approach more efficient. Try something.
If it doesn't work, try something else.

Then, as the sky began to
become luminous, these
thoughts faded into the
back of my mind and
I thought about a book
I wanted to read
and thought about
why I wanted to read it.

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