Hello,

You probably won’t read this, you don’t even know who I am. On Sunday, I found out about you. I woke up after an incredible time at Brighton Pride with a smile, but that quickly changed. All because of you.

Now, this isn’t going to be an angry and hate filled letter, I don’t want to give anyone the satisfaction. It is, however, to let you know that what you thought was just ‘stuff’ to steal actually meant more. You might have just seen a black bag and thought, no one will miss it.

You see, that bag you stole and the Laptop and the iPad, and the Headphones belonged to my boyfriend. Belonged to someone who’s been doing 12+ hour days as a Sound Engineer so that people like you can enjoy events and festivals. That’s after the years he’s spent training and the three-year degree he worked his butt off for to be able to do that.

I know, that everything in that bag was important. The laptop was a present from when he started university and got him through to now, the headphones have lasted almost 5 years through every assignment and event he’s done. The thing that upset me most was the iPad. Yes, these are just material things but just before we started uni, I gave him the iPad. I gave it to him as a gift. You have stolen that gift.

They will all be replaced, eventually, you see they have to be for his job. A lot of the hours of work and travelling will now be spent on something that you decided you didn’t feel like working for.  It might mean nothing to you, it probably doesn’t but this is just to let you know you didn’t just steal ‘stuff’. You stole from someone doing a job to make other people’s lived more enjoyable. You stole from a human.

And the worst thing? We were at a festival about love. I met some of the most wonderful people that day and now you have tainted both of our memories with your disregard for others. Next time, think before you steal.

Chloe