Just Stuff?

I haven't blogged about this, more or less due to lack of time the last few days, but Mutt has some good thoughts, a perspective I'd have never thought of:

What is the first thing someone says after their house or car is broken into? It happened in broad daylight and no one did anything...sound familiar? How about when someone gets mugged or killed? Something like...I would kill them if they did that to anyone in my family...right?

*snip*

You aren't in danger this time, but what about the next time when it is your turn and your neighbor just stands and watches as the emboldened criminals come for a bit more than a TV?
Armed, not armed...who gives a crap, they are committing a felony against a fellow man...does that mean that a DWI gets away because he wasn't armed, or a child molester, rapist, or even someone that kills you with his bare hands?
It is only stuff when it someone else's is what you mean. You selfish bastard.

I had never really thought about it that way, but it sounds to me like such an assessment is right on the money. Suffice it to say that I for one would be incensed if my place was being ransacked and my neighbors stood by, watched and did nothing because "it's just stuff." Something tells me that the people voicing the quoted sentiment mean exactly what Mutt says they do -- that it's just stuff when it's somebody else's, but when it's theirs, "Katie bar the door, boys, 'cause the lead's about to fly!" Of course he'd probably get called out for being off-base, but really, do you think any of the self-righteous jackasses who say "it's just stuff" are going to have the balls to cowboy up and admit it would be different if it was their stuff? Something else that could make for an interesting contradiction is just how many people who are condemning Joe Horn for his actions would, in any other situation, be lecturing us on the need to look out for our fellow man.