On 10 Jul 2010 18:37:02 -0500, " +Grant. " <+Grant@grant.grant> wrote:
>In article <6bjh36dqe2l18n61guih492lcpr2oulvm3@4ax.com>, HMS Victor
>Victorian <victorvictorian@hushunomail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 18:19:23 -0400, "Ulysses" <ulysses@astraweb.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >a true story too
>> >I was driving on my local street going home when i stopped at a four way
>> >stop sign
>> >I paused. Here comes a little boy about 8, riding his bike on the sidewalk
>> >As he appoached the intersection, I paused longer to see which way he was
>> >going
>> >His front tire got off the walk and onto the lawn, which was lower than the
>> >walk.
>> >He tried to swing the handlebars back onto the walk, and fell over onto the
>> >walk.
>> >His head hit the walk, and there was blood
>> >I said to myself "Oh my God, you poor little kid". I was in tears .
>> >What do I do. After several seconds i did nothing but to go on home
>> > If I stopped and got out of my car to help that kid, I could be in deep
>> >shit trouble.
>> >All kind of things could happen to me, the law, nosy neighbors etc, etc
>> >You see, dear world, this is todays society. You cannot help any kid today,
>> >no matter how serious it is. 30 years ago, I would have stopped, but NOT
>> >today
>> >
>> Dear Ulysses,
>>
>> I do not know your personal situation nor your experiences in life.
>> Perhaps if I did, I might understand why you would cry at the sight of
>> an injured boy but, in the absence of any impediment to yourself or
>> any visible help elsewhere, not stop to him.
>>
>> I am very aware of how society regards us. But if I may say so, I
>> find your reaction particularly paranoid and, worse still,
>> destructive. Do you actually mean to say that, if you saw a young boy
>> assaulted and left bleeding and unconscious in the street, you would
>> pass him by?
>>
>> Yet you would have helped him thirty years past? Something very bad
>> must have happened to you in those years, to cause you such fear and
>> bitterness. For that, I am very sorry. Concurrently, I would
>> respectfully suggest you give the qualities of care and mercy,
>> qualities we often find sorely lacking in people, another chance.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> HMS Victor Victorian, NP-g18
>> God Save the Queen.
>> God Bless the Prince of Wales.
>> God Preserve the Windsors.
>> Rule Britannia!
>
>It's different in America from even a few years ago.
>Now the police suspect the person who discovers the crime of committing
>the crime, and investigate him. Before it would be polite questioning,
>but now it would be the interrogation of the prime suspect. If they
>didn't, the media would be sure to. Your neighbors would be positive
>you are guilty. Your life, and entire family, would be an open book,
>and open to threats against your life. Who of us here could stand the
>scrutiny and danger?
>
>I might be exaggerating a little, and some communities are more likely
>to act this way than others, but the increased risk is there.
>I don't blame him for being afraid to act. I feel very sorry for how
>what happened to Ulysses affected him.
>
>Until you have walked in his shoes...
>
>Try on my old shoes a minute.
>I was 21, and big. I was in a residential neighborhood of a medium
>sized city, walking from parking to a friends's house, in the middle of
>summer. A little boy fell off his tricycle on the sidewalk. He scraped
>his hand. I was right there, so I offered first aid. He showed his
>scrape to me. His mother came running out of her house and screamed at
>me, accusing me, a stranger, of trying to molest him. I tried to
>explain what happened. She started to believe me, but stopped when her
>neighbors came over to make a mob. If my friend I was trying to visit
>hadn't come out and told everybody who I was, I don't want to think
>what might have happened.
>
>I wasn't the only one in America that kind of thing happened to, but I
>was lucky. That was then. I think it's worse now. I don't think it's
>all what happened to HIM, than made him not help, but what's happened
>to our society, which he knew about.
Dear Grant,
I do not discount the dangers the present climate present Boylovers,
as a recent event here some months back demonstrate. It seems some
upstanding neighbors had decided that one of their own in the
neighborhood resembled a picture of a wanted paedophile. One thing
led to another, a crowd gathered and, when the poor fellow was seen on
the street, they pursued and attacked him. But for the intervention
of the police, they would have doubtlessly beat him into a coma.
If they felt any guilt at all, it would have been regret not that they
had attacked the chap, but that they had attacked the wrong chap. An
outrage!
So, I am not altogether unfamiliar with how those shoes you refer to
pinch. At the risk of being seen as lecturing, allow me to make two
points. First, can anyone who professes themselves to love boys state
unequivocally that, in fear for themselves, they would NOT in ANY
circumstance however grave, stop to aid an injured boy? If so, I very
much doubt that individual loves boys at all.
Second, to Grant (who I have always understood to be an American), I
am very sorry for your negative experience. That such a thing
happened does not surprise me, for we have such high-strung
individuals here, as my story above illustrates--nervous, abandoned
and busy-body folks who have nothing better to do with their lives
than make miserable the lives of others..
It has been my experience that such people are in a miniscule
minority. I think I know Americans fairly well, and find them to
generally be congenial, practical and appreciative of any kindness or
aid a passerby might render.
You will forgive me if I believe you exaggerate regarding Americans.
Respectfully Submitted for Your Consideration,
V
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