I'm going broke keeping my son in school supplies and shoes these days.

It's not that he's wearing them out at an alarming rate. It's that they're being stolen.

At the beginning of this school year, Evan needed new shoes. He had to have what was cool - Airwalks. He's generally a really good kid so this was a kind of pre-middle school reward.

We got him the Airwalks. Sixty bucks.

We also got him a combination lock for his gym locker so when he changed into his gym clothes he could lock up those prized, cool Airwalks.

A few weeks into the school year the lock refused to lock anymore. We had another one at home - we got the two-pack - but Evan forgot to tell us his lock was broken.

That is, of course, until his prized, cool Airwalks were stolen out of his unlocked gym locker.

Ouch.

Within a week, Evan - now wearing last year's too-small, beat-up tennis shoes - leaves his binder and science book sitting out. They get stolen.

The science book showed up in lost and found. The binder, filled with pencils, pens, paper and folders, doesn't.

Next, he returned to his gym locker to find his lock, along with 75 cents stashed inside the locker, gone. Evan says he was sure he locked it. My guess is it was hanging unlocked. But I really don't understand why anyone would steal a combination lock without the combination anyway.

So off to the shoe store for a new pair of ... well, there is a lesson to be learned here. He should have let us know the lock was broken. This pair of shoes will come from the last-year's-model-brandname-outlet place, not the trendy mall place.

Adidas. Forty bucks.

But it was really $80 because I liked the ones he picked out so much I got a pair, too. Then I found out that tennis shoes were on my wife's Christmas list for me. She could have killed me. But that's another story.

And next to the discount department store for a new binder, folders, paper, pencils, pens and another combination lock. Twenty bucks.

Everything's back to normal now. The kid has everything he needs.

Now I don't want to deflect responsibility. Evan has been a bit careless concerning this locking thing. But I think it's a little sad that middle school kids have to be so preoccupied with theft deterrence procedures.

I've taked to other parents who are going through similar experiences.

So here's my question.

If you're a parent, and your kid comes home with a foreign pair of Airwalks or binder, what do you say?

How can a middle school kid get away with theft like that?

My guess is that the parents are in on it. The kid comes home and Dad says, "Hey, Son, nice pair of shoes."

Either that, or the parents of middle school thieves are so out of touch and unaware of their kids' activities that they don't even notice.

Either way, it's pretty sad.

And how about the middle school thieves themselves. If they're stealing Airwalks at age 12, what will they be up to at age 18?

I think it points to a big problem in society today. And remember, this is good ol' conservative Kosciusko County. Imagine what it must be like in metro school corporations.

The problem is, in the minds of the middle school thieves, there is no moral authority higher than the teacher or the principal.

So if the teacher or the principal isn't around, it's OK to steal. The only thing suppressing the urge to steal is the likelihood of getting caught.

These kids have no fear of a final judgment. They have no moral compass.

How can this be?

Could this be because of the way government and media trivialize religion? Christians are a bit stupid and unenlightened, you know.

Could this be because religion, via the Supreme Court, was essentially labeled taboo with a decision to remove the Bible from the classroom?

My dad always used to say "Let your conscience be your guide." That, of course, makes the assumption that your conscience has been trained to restrain you from immoral activity.

Unfortunately, growing numbers of kids - and adults - appear to need some serious conscience training. Their conscience restrains them from very little.

Where will they get that very valuable training? Sure, teachers tell kids not to steal. But without a fear of final judgment, there are no teeth in the message.

The kids lie, cheat and steal without guilt. For them, getting away with something is perceived as an accomplishment.

Right now, most kids do the right thing. The good kids far outnumber the bad kids. But I sense the scale is tilting.

And if we get enough morally deficient people in society, the U.S. won't be a very fun place to live. [[In-content Ad]]