but it was worth it
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
looking for a few good men
I was a country girl traveling 800+ miles to the huge city of Toronto. I should've been a bit scared - cities aren't safe, bad things happen. But I looked around the Greyhound bus and I realized that it couldn't be that dangerous because there were all these people around. If anything happened or tried to happen there would be witnesses, someone would help - no one would dare attempt too brazen with all these people around. Pick-pocketing, maybe, but nothing life damaging or threatening.
This is what I thought until I talked to my roommate who was from Montreal. She said that stuff does happen, in broad daylight. No one helps. Someone may call the police, but generally they would not get there in time to be of any assistance to the victim. They may apprehend a suspect, but they won't be there in the crucial first half minute to a minute of an attack. I asked why no one would help. The answer was that there isn't anything that anyone can do, and others need to stay alive and protect themselves.
This country girl thinks there are things that can be done. Even unarmed, there are things that can be thrown, distractions that can be made - something. I would like to think that there is something that can be done and I would like to think that there are some people that are willing to take the risk, and possibly the injury for the wrongs that are done in this world. Someone could at least stand up, make some noise and let it be known that the bad things are being noticed and it's not okay and if they don't stop there's going to be consequences - painful consequences. Those who turn away from injustice are no different than those who encourage it.
I think the bad guys count on the fact that no one will step up. They don't expect retaliation, they don't expect Todd Beamer, they don't expect to be hit by flying luggage or a fire extinguisher.
There's something that we can do, even if we end up hurt too - it matters to say that some things are wrong - before someone loses their head.
In this country each of us owes our lives and our freedoms to the sacrifices of someone else.
Have we become so self-centered that we are comfortable enough to say
'I thought someone else would help',
'Who do you think I am - the cops?',
'What's done is done, that's their problem'
'There was nothing I could do'.
What does anyone try to do?
Sometimes heros aren't 'successful', sometimes heros get hurt, sometimes heros die.
The tinder story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25966835/
This is what I thought until I talked to my roommate who was from Montreal. She said that stuff does happen, in broad daylight. No one helps. Someone may call the police, but generally they would not get there in time to be of any assistance to the victim. They may apprehend a suspect, but they won't be there in the crucial first half minute to a minute of an attack. I asked why no one would help. The answer was that there isn't anything that anyone can do, and others need to stay alive and protect themselves.
This country girl thinks there are things that can be done. Even unarmed, there are things that can be thrown, distractions that can be made - something. I would like to think that there is something that can be done and I would like to think that there are some people that are willing to take the risk, and possibly the injury for the wrongs that are done in this world. Someone could at least stand up, make some noise and let it be known that the bad things are being noticed and it's not okay and if they don't stop there's going to be consequences - painful consequences. Those who turn away from injustice are no different than those who encourage it.
I think the bad guys count on the fact that no one will step up. They don't expect retaliation, they don't expect Todd Beamer, they don't expect to be hit by flying luggage or a fire extinguisher.
There's something that we can do, even if we end up hurt too - it matters to say that some things are wrong - before someone loses their head.
In this country each of us owes our lives and our freedoms to the sacrifices of someone else.
Have we become so self-centered that we are comfortable enough to say
'I thought someone else would help',
'Who do you think I am - the cops?',
'What's done is done, that's their problem'
'There was nothing I could do'.
What does anyone try to do?
Sometimes heros aren't 'successful', sometimes heros get hurt, sometimes heros die.
The tinder story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25966835/
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