what if
you were robbed
while walking down the street

and what if
you were simply told
your clothes looked too expensive

and you were asking for it

what if
you watched your attacker
walk away

and smile

what if
the crime was so violent
you couldn’t sleep at night

what if
you had a panic attack
every time you remembered
his touch

what if
people started using jokes
to say it was your fault

and what if
they had the audacity to tell you
to stop overreacting

what if
“thou shalt not steal”
wasn’t in the ten commandments

what if
almost half of the population
would never be robbed

and what if
that half
decided what happened to the perpetrator

and the victim

what if
every movie

novel


television show
used violent robbery

as a plot device

what if
your preacher told you
you could prevent being robbed

by just having self-respect

what if
politicians told you
he couldn’t have taken anything

if your body had stopped it


if you hadn’t



wanted it

what if
his fingerprints
were cherry-red stains

on white tablecloths

what if
your closest friends

family


neighbors
believed that you were worthless

and what if
you started to believe it too

what if
victims of the newtown shooting
were blamed for not fighting back

what if
we told bullied kids
to get contacts and invisalign

what if
we advised sober drivers
to protect themselves by staying off the roads

what if
less than half of all crimes
were reported to the police

and what if
only 3% of criminals
ever saw a jail cell

what if
we told victims

to get over it


to get a sense of humor



to just grow up

what if

we treated all crimes
the way
we treat rape?