When you pay for a motel room for the night, is it okay to take the little bottles of shampoo, lotion and conditioner when you leave? They’re nice and handy to have in your overnight bag when you travel, especially when you hit one of those cheapie motels that have nothing.

I especially like those 1.5 oz. Scope mouthwash bottles. They cost .99 cents at the store; that’s $84.48 per gallon if you save enough of them.

I figure you pay dearly for the room and it’s there for you – why not? And those coffee packets are handy when we go camping or fishing. I guess we can train our consciences to make things the way we want them to be, huh? Maybe it isn’t a moral issue.

There are some people who take towels, coffee makers, blankets, pillows, clocks, TV remotes and whatever they can. That is stealing, for sure. I guess the motels bill you for that stuff if you do that, even though they could call the cops and file a theft complaint.

One time I really wanted a cool towel that the motel had, so I went to the front desk and asked, and they let me add it to my bill. Another time, years ago, I wanted an ashtray with the name of the motel on it, and they told me to take it – they wanted those stolen for the advertising. It said, “Stolen from the Roadrunner Motel.” Later someone stole it from my game room at home – now that has to be a sin!

Now there are some people who pile up a bunch of those freebies and give them to agencies that work with the homeless or folks who are otherwise needy. Try a nearby church, Scout troop or veterans’ group. There is a company that collects all the old soap it can get, and cook it down and make new bars and send it to poor countries. That would be a good reason to save all that stuff, wouldn’t it?

There is one thing that rarely gets stolen: the Gideon Bible. But you know what? You can take it – the Gideons want you to! That’s why they put it there to begin with.

Maybe if we took the Bible at one motel, it would heal us from stealing the soap and coffee at the next motel. What do you think?

Tom “Road” Blair
Website: www.tomroadblair.com