Excuse me, while I rant…
You can thank the following event for this post:
So, about a month ago, the hubs was pulled up to a job to work some finish carpentry magic on a home. While the employees were unloading the trailer, a drunk dude came meandering up to one of them. He asked for a cigarette. When the employee said he didn’t smoke and couldn’t take him to buy cigarettes (he asked), the dude wanted to speak to Dan, The Beard Man/my wonderful husband. He came up to Dan, who was in the garage, and after saying a bunch of nonsense that I won’t bore you with, asked for a cigarette. Dan said no and that he doesn’t smoke. So, the guy asked Dan to come outside the garage and talk. That didn’t make any sense, Dan was done talking to him and had to get back to work, so he told the guy “no,” turned his back on him and started to work again. The guy freaked out and…pulled out a gun, saying “you’re all gonna get it, anyway.” Great. So, luckily the dude takes his gun and walks back across the street…as opposed to shooting my husband in the back. But, across the street he stands there pointing the gun at all the construction workers. He then goes into his house (apparently, he lived across the street) and won’t come out. The SWAT team is called and there is a stand-off for several hours, until finally they find the guy, asleep. The end. You can read the slightly inaccurate version here in this news article.
Scary, but everything turned out fine.
A couple weeks ago, I was telling this story to a guy I know, and THIS is what he said…
“You should sue him! Press charges, I’m serious. Just have Dan take several days off work, say that he has been traumatized and sue him.”
I’m like, “Are you serious??”
He says, “Heck ya, I totally would, if it were me.”
He was serious. I couldn’t believe it. He really would take advantage of that guy, just because he was given the opportunity. Every ounce respect I had for him flew right out the window. Why would we sue that guy?? Dan wasn’t hurt. He’s not really traumatized and unable to work. The guys is obviously messed-up and did something totally dumb, should we kick him while he’s down?? Should he get in trouble? Yes. Should we take all of his money and ruin as much of his life as we can?? No. The punishment needs to fit the crime and common sense & kindness, on our part, needs to be there. What he did does not mean we deserve money. In fact, there are VERY FEW instances where people deserve money because they feel they were wronged. Part of being a human is being wronged, on occasion. Expect it and remember you’re not perfect too.
So, that brings me to my title, “Common Sense, Kindness, and Human Vultures.” How many of us have ever done something dumb? Raise your hand. You better ALL have your hands up. How many times could someone have taken advantage of your mistake, and didn’t?? Or, did they??
People do dumb things. People make mistakes. Don’t be a human vulture.
There is this story currently on the news, all over Utah, about this now-former policeman who used the city credit card to put gas in his car. Pretty darn dumb. But, he justified it by thinking about the times he used his personal vehicle for city issues…it was like he was reimbursing himself. Okay, I can understand the shady justification but, he should have gone through the proper channels to get reimbursed. Anyway, here’s what gets me. He is arrested in his own home, without warning, in front of his wife and kids. He is booked in the same jail that he has booked inmates, himself. And, he is plastered all over the news, as if he was some sick and twisted criminal. Now, the district attorney is going after him with full force. He is being charged with felonies, which could give him several years in prison and ruin his life. The guy is losing his job, his pension, his dignity. What he did was obviously wrong, but is this punishment fitting the crime?? I don’t know the exact number, but I he spent under fifty bucks on gas, that they can prove. You can’t tell me that deserves felony convictions and prison time…even if it was several hundred dollars. There are a lot worse people who need to be in prison, using our tax dollars. This policeman served diligently for 19 years, let’s keep things in perspective.
Now, let’s go over this…
Common Sense & Kindness – He should obviously be punished. Maybe he should resign and be slapped with a $1000 dollar fine, thus the city will be making money on the incident. It should have been handled quietly. For a dollar amount THAT small, none of us should even know about this story. It should have been handled by the department and that’s it. If we want to talk about wasting tax payer money, let’s discuss prosecuting someone…especially over something so minor. There were better ways to handle it. Nobody deserves to have their life ruined and be completely humiliated over a $50 dollar lapse in judgment. It’s nice to see that someone finally stood up for him, publicly…here. Cheers to the F.O.P.!
I’ll let you decide who the human vulture is.
One last story…a while back, a friend of mine was at work when someone accidentally drove the fork of their fork lift right through their trailer. The fork lift driver felt horrible and was telling my friend he would call his insurance and everything . This friend used his common sense and knew that this hole in his trailer wasn’t really affecting anything. It was located somewhere on the trailer where it wasn’t super obvious. It wasn’t going to let rain in, so he was kind enough to say, “Eh, no worries…be more careful, next time.” And, that’s how it should be! That’s not to say if someone crashes into your car, you don’t have them pay for it. But, when things are minor and really not that big of a deal…have a heart. Even when things ARE a big deal, still be considerate and ask yourself whether you really need to be compensated or if you’re just being a revengeful and/or greedy human vulture. It’s one thing to try and get compensated, but it’s another thing to try and get rich.
Doesn’t it seem like human vultures are everywhere?? It’s like they just sit and wait for you to say something politically incorrect, do something dumb, or just make your coffee too hot and they will pounce on you. And, as long as they benefit (under the guise of compensation, procedure, and lessons taught) they are willing to crucify you. It’s sick.
We should expect and “man-up” to the consequences when we make mistakes, but may we all be fortunate enough to not offend someone who has every intention of sticking -it-to-you, to benefit their pride or their pocketbook.
So, here’s my post, summed up: Treat others the way YOU would like to be treated. Pass it on.
The end. I’m done. Allow me to jump off my high horse.
Couldn’t agree more.
One hundred percent true. Part of the problem in this country is no one speaks up for what is right anymore. We allow this stuff to go on… Like the policeman story you told. Seriously a rapist doesn’t recieve that much punishment for his crime. I find that often the Punishment isn’t fitting the crime. We have become so PC. I am glad you wrote this post, I am glad you reminded me of treating others kindly and fairly.
Amen, sister!
I agree 110%!!!
i was involved in a car accident a couple of years ago. I had gone to lunch and was on my way back to work when I woman in a large cargo van came left of center and hit me. While I seen this coming, I stopped my car, which was a stick shift, trying to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, I was hit anyways. She didn’t do a ton of damage, and she was finally stopped a bit up the road. I call the police, an officer comes and tells me to come down to where they have her stopped, we swap insurance etc. It turned out that this woman, who was a nurse on base, had forgotten to take one of her medications and was COMPLETELY out of it while driving home. My roommate at the time told me that I should sue her because she’s a nurse and should know better than to be off of her medication and whatnot. This was all about a month before my husband and I got married as well. I decided that mistakes happen, and I know I’m terrible about taking medication as well, and that I would just take whatever the insurance company gave to me. I only lost a couple hours of work, my boss forgave the points that I received for being late for lunch and leaving early to go to the hospital (I stiffened up about an hour later, and she made me go). I received $700 and we bought a very nice couch and love seat. 🙂 Everyone was happy!
Common sense, kindness, The Golden Rule and forgiveness. Kudos to the FOP.
AMEN!
Agree.
agree.
Yay for common sense!! Excellent post, and I’m so glad that others agree.
I completely agree with you BUT remember there is always a second side to the story. I agree that the officer that was just arrested in front of his family was wronged in that perspect BUT remember that the District Attorney’s Office has over a hundred employees. The District Attorney can only act on the information that he was given and he wasn’t given totally accurate information. The police department he worked for was also involved and they should hold part of the blame. Obviously there is some bad blood in there somewhere.
Totally agree, there must be some bad blood and multiple vultures. Being arrested in front of his family is only one of the things blown out of proportion, i.e. what he is being charged with, the media coverage, losing his full pension, etc. His crime doesn’t deserve any of that. I feel for the guy.
I completely agree! Great post.
Well said!
Standing for something is hard. Thanks for taking a stand. It reminds me to do the same thing.
Glad you brought this up! Todays society is FULL of vultures and Law Enforcement is the most underpaid, underappriciated job out there! Too many people see cops as an enemy until their lives are in danger and they need them, then it is no big deal to call in these people to risk their OWN lives for a very low salary! Ridiculous! That is not to say that they shouldn’t be accountable for themselves and following laws, also but I agree, give this poor man a little compassion!
GREAT post, really make me think, I appreciate it, the making me think part~! love this
I agree!! I only wish more people believed the same thing. I hope that police officer can salvage his career after all this. And I’m so glad your husband is ok!!
Standing Ovation to you! Wish Common sense was more common!
What a great post. Thank you for having the guts to say it! (now if you don’t get sued because of it…) : )
Wonderful post. Oh my goodness that is SO true about the police officer. What a ridiculous, SADDDDD mess that hurts not only him but his family also. I am so glad the F.O.P. said something.
This was so well-written. I think you should send this into our Utah newspapers – PLEASE!
I echo you sentiments. It is to hard to watch your back and say the right things all the time. Mistakes happen, forgive like you would want to be when you make one.
Thank you for sharing and I completely agree.!
Thank you so much for this post!!! Especially enlight of recent events that happened in AZ and the blame game going on there as well.
Awesome!
Awesome. I totally agree, and I’m glad you wrote about this. You stood up for what you believe, which can be hard, and is commendable in itself. But you also did it articulately and with firm kindness. Great post!