The guy does a ton of walking but he does so with a limp. Some days, it’s a struggle to get from one park bench to another, but it beats staying at home.

He’s 56 and most of those years were tough. He’s the kind of guy who should elicit sympathy. But no, he’s had the worst luck recently.

A couple weeks ago, some scoundrel swiped the man’s American flag. It was a big flag, slightly tattered, and it meant a great deal to him. Every Sept. 11, he hobbled his way down to the Longley Bridge to spend hours waving it in commemoration of that dark day three years ago.

He went scrounging for a new flag after his was stolen. In the nick of time, a nice lady donated one from her home, and the limping man was back in business. It’s great to see a tough old bird overcome adversity. I’d offer my hand for him to shake but I’m afraid he wouldn’t see it.

Over the weekend, someone pilfered the fellow’s eyeglasses. Man, oh man. Stealing a man’s glasses has got to go down as one of the more dastardly things a person can do. It’s right up there with swiping things from cemeteries or taking a child’s toy.

Now the flag waver is wandering around town, slightly stooped with that back problem, and squinting to see the next bench to rest on.
Work of punks?
I tell you, there is just no limit the depths to which people will descend.

Lately, I’ve been hearing from men and women who’ve had magnetic, yellow ribbons stolen from their cars. The ribbons are just small symbols displayed to show supports for troops fighting overseas. Financially, they aren’t worth much – maybe $5 or so. Spiritually, they tend to mean a lot to the people who display them.

One woman who wrote says she has a friend and a relative in Iraq, each on a second tour. The woman slapped a ribbon on her car in support of them and within a week, poof! It was gone.

“All that’s left is the dust mark it left on the Jimmy!” the woman wrote. “I couldn’t help but think it was probably some punks kicking by with nothing to do, or maybe a klepto who didn’t have a car, but just had to take it!”

Yep, the woman is spitting mad. She wrote a great letter, but I can’t quote a lot of it. The language of her rage is justified, but will never get by the editors. And who can blame her? There is no black market for magnetic yellow ribbons. You just can’t convince yourself that someone is stealing these things because they need money to finance their mom’s operation.
Without remorse
A woman I work with was mystified when a yellow ribbon was lifted from her car. Patriotic to the end, she shelled out another five bucks and replaced it. Poof! Gone soon after.

“I’m not going to keep putting ribbons on my car just so someone can steal them,” she said. Another patriotic effort busted apart by a light-fingered miscreant.

I reflected on my misspent youth when I used to do things like throw snowballs at cars and make hilarious prank phone calls. I was no saint, but the pack I ran with had our limits. We didn’t steal from cemeteries, for fear of getting haunted. We didn’t steal things like flags, because we were afraid Marines would visit us and administer justice. Mostly though, we stopped short of these things because it grates on the conscience like rusty machinery.

And lack of conscience has got to factor into any plan to steal a memento from the back of an SUV.

Money from the sale of the ribbons goes to soldiers or their families. But the personal symbolism is perhaps more significant. Surely, plenty of the people who display those ribbons have sons or daughters fighting in some horrible place across the globe. The worry must be unrelenting. The panic severe. When the ribbons get pilfered, it’s the most God-awful insult. These people have already sent a cherished someone into battle. The very least they should expect is the right to honor that person.

Ahhh, people. In my travels, I’ve written about the theft of diaper bags full of baby supplies. I’ve waxed on about the disappearance of a figurine from the grave of a young boy. Now someone has swiped an older man’s glasses, and the yellow ribbons disappear daily from the backs of cars. In my business, there will always be something to write about. In the world of bad news, the vile nature of man is wretched job security.

Mark LaFlamme is the Sun Journal crime reporter.