Thou Shalt Not Steal. Sound familiar? It's one of the things everybody teaches their children from infancy, whether or not you're a believer in any religion. We all take care to impart this rule to our little ones, simply because stealing is wrong. Anyone who's ever been robbed knows exactly how wrong it is. And more than that, it's a double offense since the act of theft robs not only the victim but the thief. Perhaps the greater damage is done to the stealer rather than the steal-ee.

One's sense of self-worth is all shot to hell and your set of priorities is immediately warped and deeply challenged, especially when you get away with it. I'm not talking about robbing banks or stealing cars or burglarizing people's homes here but rather, little things, petty theft so to speak. I'm talking about stealing music and movies on the internet. I know parents who have carefully raised their children and instilled a strong sense of right in wrong in them who turn a blind eye to their kids' stealing songs. And since most of these music thieves are teenagers, what does that tell them about all the other rules Mom and Dad taught them? That they are as elastic and optional as the admonition against theft?

Just because junior can hack his way past the 75 cents charge for a song and download all of Mom and Dad's favorite Classic Rock songs for them, that doesn't make it okay. Some reason that rock stars are rich so they won't miss the dough. Is that the point? Well, Donald Trump's rich. Would it be okay for your child to steal his watch? He's probably got a hundred of them, won't miss one lousy watch, right? Probably not, but it's his watch, not anybody else's. And the fact that he's an annoying loudmouth wouldn't absolve anyone caught stealing his watch in the eyes of the law, or of common decency.

Bill Gates is richer than just about anybody and if you noticed, his Microsoft company gets pretty testy when people steal his various programs. And rightfully so if you ask me. You may have paid a bundle for some of his products, as have I and a billion others, you reason, so what's the harm of snatching a freebie copy of some other Microsoft program a friend has burned? Probably not so much harm to Bill Gates as to yourself. He may not know you're stealing, but you sure do. When you break the headlight of your expensive car for which you paid thousands of dollars to a mega-rich car company, will you expect them to replace it for free? Heck, it's only a headlight, can't cost all that much, and look at the profit they made on me already. I'll just help myself to a new headlight. Good luck with that.

Me, I'm guilty too of things of this sort. I can't say for certain which of the programs in my computer are licensed and properly purchased and which are not. I have other people do that for me since I'm pretty lame at that sort of thing but it's my computer and thus my responsibility if there is pirated material on it. Many's the time I've watched pay-per-view boxing matches at the home of a friend who had the zapper box that enabled them to get the signal for nothing. Though it wasn't my house or my illegal zapper, I sure sat there and watched. I didn't reason that the cable companies are rich or the boxers are guaranteed their purses no matter what, I didn't reason at all, just watched a stolen show.

Movie houses don't offer free admission. Movie pirates, however, offer current movies on DVD for 5 or10 bucks, a fraction of their legitimate cost. These I don't buy, nor do I buy pirated music CDs. CDs are huge investments for the musical artists and the companies they work for and movies cost anywhere from 10 to 100 million dollars to make. How many more will they be able to make if everybody's stealing their product? Film makers are rich, you say? A few, perhaps, the ones you've heard of. For every Scorsese and Spielberg there's a thousand aspiring film makers trying to catch a break, men and women risking all to chase their dreams. Do we rob them of that?

Actors? Again, the ones who are famous are wealthy but the acting community as a whole has a 90% unemployment rate. How wealthy are the struggling ones? Ask their bosses at the restaurants where they wait tables or the cab companies whose cars they drive while they struggle to get acting gigs. How about musicians? I've been one for decades. Ever heard of me? Of course not. And I can tell you right off the bat that I don't have any money to speak of, never did. Would you steal my songs because you could? They're right there on my web site for a free listen. You can buy them and there’s more available if you ask. Cheap, too.

Is saving 75 cents or a buck that big a difference maker in your budget? Well, I'm not ashamed to say that it would be in mine, because there's a hell of a lot of people stealing art on the internet and that adds up to a lot of dough that the small guy can't afford to lose. Thieves can put the marginal artists out of business and then what? There's always the established stars, you say? They're wealthy and can take the hit. Maybe, but who takes their place when all the up-and-comers are downloaded out of existence? Unless you're okay with only all the music that's been created so far, or all the movies made to date. That's enough for a lot of people, the ones that feel that all the good music and movies have already been produced. Do you agree with that? Then don't bother listening to Gogol Bordello, one of the most exciting and different music acts to explode on the scene in years. And stick with Classic movie channels, steering clear of the exciting new films shown on Independent Movie networks.

By all means take whatever's offered for free, there's a lot of it out there. Who doesn't love free stuff? But remember, everything costs money to produce, whether it's a paperclip, a car, a song or a film. And the people who produce these things spend years gaining education, training and experience and painstakingly honing their crafts. And now it’s yours for nothing? Think of it this way; everything you own is yours alone, right? Surely much of what you have is means a lot to you, or is very special because it took a lot of diligent work to attain. How much of your sweat and hard-earned went into getting the stuff you have? Plenty is the answer to that one. How much of it are you willing to give away to strangers for nothing? Bet I know the answer to that one too.