When your daughter calls to say “I’m okay”, there is always a moment of oh shit, what happened. My oldest daughter called me yesterday to give me a heads up her place of work was going to be in the news. She was working and in the parking lot a lot of drama took place. Apparently two people had a confrontation resulting in one of them shooting the other.
Apparently the two people were arguing over a parking spot. My daughter said her car might be in some of the footage. I’m glad it was her car and not her. She lives in a large metropolitan area, crime is expected.
At work yesterday I got notified a robbery suspect was at large in the small town I work in. This is not common. Yes, there is crime but not generally armed robbery. Are we safer in the small town? I doubt it. Shit happens when and where it happens.
Fortunately for my family, no one was involved any more than peripherally. The robbery notice I got, I disregarded as I wasn’t near the location and doubted I’d see the suspect from my building. My daughter’s incident took my breath away because there’s the instinct to protect. However, after a bit of discussion and joking about letting people have whatever parking spot they want, it had little affect on me. We were fortunate.
The “give me what I want no matter what” attitude is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps because I grew up on a farm where we worked hard and appreciated the benefits we managed to eke out, I find this attitude a horrible symptom in our society. I’m not going to say it’s a generation or a young person’s attitude. I certainly know older people who have this attitude. I find it shallow and counter productive to a healthy society.
To me, it doesn’t matter what your beliefs are or what you look like or your abilities. What matters is are you a productive member of society? Are you working to the best of your ability to take care of yourself? If you are, we’re good do what you want with your life. If you aren’t, get a clue. You aren’t some anointed God or Goddess who has power and control over lesser beings. There are no lesser beings. We’re all interconnected and need to rely on each other to make it through.
Is a parking spot worth a man’s life? If he dies, are you willing to live with the fact you took a life? I’ve got a temper and I know it’s not easy but walk away. Walk away, call the police, and don’t do something you can’t take back.