by Paul Big Bear
Dear Friends,
NEWS; north – east – west – south, reports of what is going on in the world, our world. I awaken in the morning to a hot cup of coffee and the news on TV; I am appalled by the daily escalating violence reported in Philadelphia. Random shootings, carjacking, physical assault, break and enter theft with assault, car/driving rage, mass smash and grab theft, and the horror goes on as police find doing their jobs thwarted by refusal to prosecute, perpetrators back on the street to again break the law. All this as politicians continue to question how it can be stopped. The police have a term they use called “broken windows”, when a child breaks a window he must be punished, not with jail or a detention center, no, but they must be held responsible for their actions or they will feel that doing wrong has no repercussions and move on to bigger wrongs. I made a slingshot when I was young; I carved the wood, cut strips from an old inner tube connecting them to my carved wood and a piece of leather hide. It was an accurate slingshot and capable of sending a rock accurately fifty feet. That was how far away I was when I was shooting targets in the woods and I heard glass break; I had not seen the shed beyond the trees. As punishment I (under supervision of the shed owner) put a new pane of glass in, I never broke a bigger window, I had answered for my actions. I often hear, on the news, politicians say “We cannot find a motive.” There is no motive for random violence unless you want to include a perverted thrill gained by breaking the law, harming another, taking what you have no right to, a feeling of entitlement. Have you watched these news reports, like I have and quietly said “Thank goodness it isn’t here in the suburbs.”
Guess again Bubba, here are some high lights from this past week’s news; “several individuals wearing masks and hoodies smashed display cases and stole merchandise at a local (suburban) store” complete with security video and cell phone videos of the illegal actions. Convenience store, cosmetics, stores like Wal Mart fall victim to these violent thieves. There is more, a woman parks her car in a large well lit suburban parking lot with lots of cars and readies to go shopping when suddenly a large “THUG” grabs her and starts pulling her pants down, his are already down, as he continues his attack violently punching her, she screams finally scaring him off. He is later apprehended and found to be a repeat offender from the city.
Cars violently high jacked at gas stations in the suburbs. A couple in their 70’s victims of a kicked in door, bound, beat, and robbed, another woman punched on the street as the assailant ran off into the night. Yes the violence is coming to the suburbs. This past week as I traveled home on route 63, through a suburban neighborhood, I witnessed no less than 70 bikers in the opposing lane, weaving in and out of traffic, popping wheelies in front of women drivers clearly frightened as they gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands and staring nervously ahead. It seems as Philadelphia begins clamping down on such violence these (fill in any word you choose) have decided to bring their violence to the suburbs. I have faith that our local police won’t look the other way and wrong doers will be arrested and punished accordingly. I truly believe that it ends much better when a broken window gets repaired. On a foot note, I still have my sling shot and I showed my sons how to make and shoot a sling shot responsibly.