To stealing from the Salvation Army.

Stealing is bad. Stealing from the Salvation Army is worse. The Salvation Army mission is to help the poor, so stealing from that Christian organization is like taking from the poor. But that’s what happened in Albert Lea when a misguided fool was caught on video allegedly stealing a red kettle valued at $60 from the Salvation Army Thrift Store. The Salvation Army posted a video of the theft on Facebook, and the young man was cited Monday when he turned himself in to authorities. We hope the man learned a valuable lesson about not taking what does not belong to him. There is more to life than money and belongings. What he needs to value are virtues such as respect, patience, honor and integrity. Those investments always yield dividends.

 

To Minnesota being a bike-friendly state.

The League of American bicyclists on Thursday announced that Minnesota is No. 2 in the Bicycle Friendly States ranking. That reflects well on our state to outsiders looking to move here and live active, healthy lives. Infrastructure is a major key to encouraging people to exercise. It also shows how open-minded the state is to alternative forms of transportation.

 

To children in possession of firearms.

It’s good to teach children how to handle firearms, but they should not possess them. A Waseca teenager amassed a stockpile of handguns, automatic firearms and bomb-making equipment in his bedroom and in a rented locker, according the charges filed in Waseca County. How? How does a 17-year-old kid do that? Where were his parents or guardians? It is a reminder that even high school students are children and need adult supervision — not hovering over everything they do, to be sure, but there needs to be parental knowledge of what’s happening in their young lives. Converse. Converse. Converse. The charges say the boy intended to carry out an attack on Waseca High School on April 20, the 15-year anniversary of the deadly Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo., but he changed his mind when he realized that was Easter Sunday and no one was in school. Thank God for that, right? And thank God a witness who saw him acting suspicious at his rented locker called police. (And a big thumbs up to that person.) It would have been an unimaginable horror so very close to home for all Minnesotans.