Advice needed

[Fr_Tom]

Being a compassionate person I'd recommend that you talk with him.  Share with him that it appears that a wheelbarrow was rolled up your drive way and to your woodpile.  Let him know that you're happy to lend a helping hand if one of the neighbors is in need but that you must politely insist that they let you know that they're doing so.

If he doesn't own up to it, then ask him to help you keep an eye on things, that the last thing you want to do is to call the police and report that you've been robbed of your personal property.

If he does own up to it, re-affirm that you understand that folks sometimes fall on hard times, but that in the future he must let you know that he needs some wood.

This is the best course of action I think.

 

[KevinM]

All the responses seem both reasonable and charitable to me. Pipers are a patient lot. Reminds me of a short story by Annie Proulx. Titled “the Man in the trees,” (?) A woman moved to Wyoming. One snowy day she looked out the window and saw someone in the distance crawling toward her home. She called the police. Help took awhile getting there. Other than the phone call she hadnt offered direct help. Turned out the fellow was a skier who had broken his leg, crawled for miles and could see her watching him from her window. Turned out that her neighbors didn’t like newcomers, but plumb despised anyone who wouldn’t help someone who was injured. So she was ostracized and had to leave. Everyone projects a different context on situations, it seems.