Locks and Stolen Bikes

I forgot to lock up my bike when I popped into the neighborhood store for a minute yesterday. Where I live, bike theft is the only epidemic more pervasive than the obesity epidemic. Most people who live in my neighborhood all their lives will never see an unlocked bike in the wild, and if they do, they'll steal it. My bike was not stolen the five minutes while I shopped. But to give you an idea of how common theft is, when I walked out and saw my unlocked bike my first thought I had was: "Oh my god! Someone stole my lock!" Then I noticed I was still holding it in my hand.