My understanding of karma through LOO

[Diana]

Stealing, or taking without permission, no matter how it is justified (in my opinion) derives from a "separation" mindset. For example: employee vs. employer. Many employees think it's okay to steal from their workplace--pens, paper, whatever, because the owners are their "enemies"; they are the rich and the employee is the poor etc. You can follow this thinking to its inevitable ends:

-poverty mentality
-power is outside of self
-victimology
-the world owes you something
and on and on.

In short, it's not taking responsibility. I want to add here though, that I am not judging. And some people are really in dyer straights. I was in a grocery store late at night once and a very aggressive-looking cop came in. He went right for a 30-ish aged man and started asking him what was in his pockets. I was in the next aisle. The man tried to say "nothing" but ended up having to admit he had food in them. At first he was saying he meant to pay for the stuff but that didn't really scan and the cop was being very mean. The man was saying his family needed the food and I was thinking I would just pay for it and ask the cop to let him go with the food. Then the cop sprayed pepper spray on the man and even in the next aisle I could not breathe and had to get out of the store. On the way out I told the cashier that I would pay for the guy's food but could make no headway with this idea, and had to give it up and go home.