When I was in high school, I stole thousands of dollars in jewelry and I got caught

I was 17 years old. I went to a pretty well off school, and a lot of the kids had nice jewelry. My parents had recently divorced and I was having a tough time with money. We were very low income, and they barely had any money for me. So I started stealing jewelry.<br><br>It started by taking a pair of earrings from a friend. He noticed that they were missing and accused me, I denied it, and eventually confessed. He let it go, and I kept stealing. I got a necklace from another girl, and I sold it. I got caught, and she told everyone.<br><br>So I stopped, and I thought I was done. Then, I had a kid in my class who always wore really expensive jewelry. I didn't think that kid had a clue about how bad off we were, so I stole a gold chain from him. He had been missing it for a week and he accused me. He called my parents, and my dad took me to the mall. There, I confessed to taking it, and the kid's dad gave me the money to buy my mom a ring. It was about $500. <br><br>I thought that was the last of it, but I was wrong. I got to my car, and I called my dad. I told him what I had done. He was mad, and I had to call the kid and apologize. It was the last of it, and I stopped stealing. But I felt so bad. I was so ashamed, and I couldn't tell my parents.<br><br>Years later, I found out that the kid's parents had been struggling too. They had divorced and they had to fight to keep their house, and they didn't tell us. It made me realize that I had judged them unfairly. I thought they were richer than us, and I thought that I was doing something wrong by taking their stuff. But they were struggling too. <br><br>I've never stolen since then, but it took me a long time to get over it. It was a hard time in my life, but I learned a lot from it. I learned that you never really know what someone is going through, and I learned that honesty is always the best policy.