Pastor Ken
Several department stores and supermarkets in our neighborhood provide a self-checkout area. Besides regular lanes with employees helping customers, shoppers can use the machines to scan product barcodes, pay with a credit card reader, then leave. In some cities, apart from having self-checkout machines at the stores, users of public transportation are also allowed to pay by self-read machines.
We may wonder, doesn’t anyone take the opportunity to steal or fail to pay?
Of course, there are dishonest people. Some abuse the system and intentionally “miss” scanning items. A few even shoplift by hiding items under their loose clothes.
Recently, in a number of cities in the United States, police officers were accused of racial discrimination and wrongful conduct. Certain local governments yielded to public outcries and defunded the police. Because the police department doesn’t have enough personnel to ensure public safety, criminals go to the store to steal the goods and leave without a second thought. Due to the backlog of property damage cases, the judicial department simply announced that they would no longer accept small-dollar theft cases, indirectly encouraging more lawbreakers to steal. Some companies, unable to cope with the financial loss, closed down their business and moved out of those cities. All the inhabitants of those places were victimized.
Many utopian concepts believe that human nature is inherently good, and that universal morality exists in society. As long as everyone is given equality and freedom, all will abide by the law to reach an equilibrium. However, in the history of mankind, there are few records of such a situation. On the contrary, without the police to enforce the law, and without an efficient judicial system to punish the criminals, the society is in turmoil, and the bad guys form crime syndicates to fight for their own interests by violence.
In Hong Kong when I was growing up, most people didn’t have the concept of queuing up for buses. When the bus arrived, everyone fought to be on the bus first. Later on, the government educated the public and encouraged parents to set a good example. Schools included it in the civic education curriculum. Railings and painted lines were set up at bus stops, and occasionally, staff were present to maintain order. Slowly, the situation improved as people dared to speak up if there were queue-jumpers. Once queuing becomes part of the culture, people exercise self-discipline without police supervision.
I don’t think there is any quick fix to stop the bad guys from taking advantage of the freedom in an open society. It’s also not possible to reform people through education alone. However, I believe that if a person has a relationship with God and accepts the teachings of the Bible, he or she will be able to judge how to behave as a proper “human being.”
Self-service payment reduces wait time and costs for merchants. Lower prices benefit customers. We shall use it honestly ourselves and also support the monitoring system and enforcement officers. In so doing, all residents in the community can enjoy the convenience.
