Not stealing...!

Yesterday we had an interesting conversation during lunch. It bordered very much on seriousness but was shared in a lighter vein.  But all present were very much aware of the seriousness of the issue.

There was a time when confreres were given pocket money. Today confreres pocket money!  

Another confrere quoted this incident. A Salesian sometime ago had come from a particular community to the Provincial house for a meeting.  This confrere was a bit caught in the middle of a peculiar situation where in the community resources were bleak but not the confreres!  Being the administrator and not having really experienced such a tricky situation earlier, he innocently exclaimed:

Confreres are certainly not stealing... 

and everyone hearing him was appreciative of his optimism and trust in the honesty of his fellow confreres, but were quite taken aback by how he concluded:

...they're looting!