Sleepless in Midland

The panhandler was not homeless and didn't need the wheelchair -- Abilene Reporter News

I've given handouts to panhandlers in the past. And while working in downtown Houston years ago I tried to keep some McDonald's gift cards on hand for them. Some of them were mentally ill, and that was often obvious. But there was always that nagging feeling that those who looked and acted somewhat normal could have provided for themselves if they tried.

Anyway, seeing this headline from nearby Abilene, TX, doesn't alleviate that feeling: Abilene Police Chief Standridge: Man in wheelchair is not homeless, earns $1,000 weekly:

"He is not wheelchair-bound, but is instead dropped off every weekend to seek charity. He earns about $1,000 for his efforts, just working the weekends," Standridge said. ...

"Imagine if those dollars were given to nonprofits to help get our homeless neighbors off the streets," Standridge said.

Meanwhile, whatever became of those "Will work for food" signs we used to see? Maybe they all got jobs.

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1:25 PM 8/2/2019

Researchers: Bystanders will more likely than not help an assault victim

This is encouraging. Bystanders will intervene to help victims of aggressive public disputes . Here's an excerpt summarizing the findings:

Bystanders will intervene in nine-out-of-ten public fights to help victims of aggression and violence say researchers, in the largest ever study of real-life conflicts captured by CCTV.

The findings overturn the impression of the "walk on by society" where victims are ignored by bystanders.

Instead, the international research team of social scientists found that at least one bystander -- but typically several -- did something to help. And with increasing numbers of bystanders there is a greater likelihood that at least someone will intervene to help.

A team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen, the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement and Lancaster University examined unique video recordings of 219 arguments and assaults in inner cities of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Lancaster (UK) and Cape Town (South-Africa).

Encouraging, yes. But it is probably best not to count on it. Note the cities in which the studies were done: Amsterdam, Lancaster, and Cape Town. Could Americans in inner cities expect the same?

There are other factors at play in the recent incidents that have hit the news. When NYPD officers were doused with water the other day, the bystanders may have been filling their own buckets to pile on.

And when a dozen teens attack someone, it would take a brave individual to try to stop a mob.

So circumstances make a big difference. Be that as it may, the premise that a passerby is more likely than not to be a good Samaritan is so comforting that it's believable because we want to believe it.

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3:22 PM 7/26/2019

Los Angeles mayor is so compassionate he's giving away your space to the homeless

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti should feel some responsibility for the homeless in Los Angeles. It's not because he's so compassionate, it's because housing is so heavily regulated few can build anything, so he's part of the problem.

Not to worry. The government is here to help. Andrew Malcolm tells us about the proposed solution in How about housing some homeless in your backyard?. Here's how the proposal would work:

Under the program the county would lend $75,000 to homeowners to build a backyard house or $50,000 for a garage-type renovation for up to six units. Loan principal would be reduced for each year a formerly homeless person occupies the unit.

After 10 years, the loan would be forgiven and homeowners would be free to do as they want with the building.

One should wonder whether the formerly homeless residents of these dwellings would care enough about them to perform regular upkeep and what recourse, if any, the homeowner would have if they didn't.

Meanwhile, this video uploaded on Christmas day 2016 made the rounds a while back. It's rather astonishing to see how many people live on the streets in downtown Los Angeles. Aside from refugee camps, there's really no worthwhile solution.

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1:13 PM 4/12/2018

So many things for which to be thankful

Thanksgiving is a day in which we should be thankful for the lives we live, the friends we keep, and the family who loves us. Let's also remember that our founding fathers bequeathed us a free country, and for that, we should be extremely grateful, respectful, and determined to keep it free.

Let's not forget random acts of kindness. But wait a minute. Those acts of kindness aren't random, they are intentional. To set us straight, Bob Brody has this in the Wall Street Journal: Random Acts of Kindness? Hardly. Subhead: The usual phrase has it wrong. Niceness can only be intentional.

There he provides an explanation and some examples of intentional acts of kindness, such as this one:

Why do we call acts of kindness random when they are so clearly intentional? Are acts of kindness any more random than acts of cruelty? The answer is no.

It’s 6:30 in the morning and raining hard. A woman caught in the downpour without an umbrella ducks inside a coffee shop. “I have to get to the hospital,” she says to a stranger. She’s a nurse due for a 7 o’clock shift. “See those people over here?” the stranger asks, nodding to a mother, father and two children. “They just pulled up in a car. You could ask for a ride.”

The nurse is skeptical, but the stranger is encouraging. When she finally goes over to ask for a lift, the family instantly agrees, and out the door they go. As they pull away, the nurse waves goodbye to the stranger, smiling.

Though rare, such flashes of empathy and altruism—of going above and beyond ourselves, setting aside, if only momentarily, our personal wants and needs—do occur. In Hebrew, this kind of good deed is called a mitzvah, literally meaning “commandment,” as in thou shalt be kind. Those who perform mitzvahs are in Yiddish called mensches, defined as people of integrity and honor.

Well said. May we all endeavor to be kind to one another and be thankful for the opportunity.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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1:15 PM 11/22/2017

Our own Dunkirk -- individual heroism on display in Las Vegas

Listening to the news conference coming from Las Vegas I'm struck, but not surprised, at the accolades given to citizens who stepped up to help. That's what Americans do.

A few years ago I attended a local homeland security exercise conducted with local law enforcement, and in one exercise I injected a suggestion that they call for volunteers from the community. "Like Dunkirk," I said. It was met with a blank stare from the facilitator who I hope has learned more about Dunkirk since then.

But if you will recall, citizen involvement has been an important element in every catastrophe since the tower sniper in Austin several decades ago and which continued with the Twin Towers destruction and to this day at the Las Vegas massacre.

Kudos to all citizens who step up for these things. Whether it's providing ones own body as a human shield, helping people escape danger, aiding with transport to hospitals, blood donations, or offers of food and lodging, they're all heroes in my book.

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5:17 PM 10/2/2017

Soldier gets out of vehicle, stands at attention as funeral passes, in the rain

There was a coach at a local junior high school who, when a funeral passed on an adjacent busy boulevard while the kids were outdoors, required that the students under his tutelage kneel on one knee as the procession passed. Everyone who witnessed it thought it was an honorable thing to do.

Here's one that's even better. The Tennessee Army National Guard Colonel photographed by a passerby exited his vehicle and stood at attention as a procession passed. But kicker is that it was raining!

What a guy. Little wonder that the general public holds members of the military in such high regard.

Via WTSP.com via Dailymail.co.uk.

As we import more and more refugees our best hope is that they don't turn on us

The problem many conservatives have with the current immigration program is that new entrants don't plan to assimilate, and in many cases they're encouraged not to.

Now we learn that Obama Seeks Admission for 10,000 More Syrian Refugees. From what we've seen of Obama, it probably won't stop there.

It would be nice to think they'll assimilate and become good Americans. But that's probably a wild dream as that hasn't worked out all that well lately. See Ian Tuttle's Before Welcoming Thousands of Syrian Refugees, We Should Consider What Somali Immigrants Have Brought the U.S. Never mind the burden those individuals have put on government assistance programs, they tax the shelters, food banks, and local charities as well. And there's this:

But, as the Somali experiment makes clear, it is not just the short-term consequences that are worrisome. Notably, the terror threat from the Somali-American community comes not from refugees, but from their children — American-born Somalis who have never been to Africa. Setting aside the near-certainty that at least some Syrian refugees will be connected to the Islamic State, refugee resettlement is sure to incubate national-security threats that will not manifest themselves for 20 years. ...

Tuttle concludes:

We know much more now about the threats we face, and we have the Somali community as an example of the consequences of a generous refugee policy in an age that eschews assimilation. It would be entirely humane to rescue those suffering from Syria’s mayhem. It would be inhumane, though, to gravely threaten American security in the process.

It has already started. See The Twin Cities have an ISIS problem.

Images like the dead kid on the beach tug at the heartstrings. It takes courage to resist being led on a leash by a need to be liked.

What it takes to be a hero

Donald Trump was in the news the other day -- yeah, I know, he's in the news every day. But that time it was about calling out John McCain for being a "hero" because he was a POW. If McCain really did decline an offer of early release then he probably qualifies. Meanwhile, Trump is setting himself up as kingmaker in the 2016 presidential election. But that's another story.

There's a good piece on what it takes to be a hero at American Spectator by Mark Coppenger titled The Hero as Supererogator. Being a hero boils down to this:

How can it apply without dissent to a passerby, an insurance salesman or greengrocer, who wades out into hip-deep rushing water to pull a woman from a stalled car, but not so readily apply to a soldier headed out on his eleventh motor patrol in an Afghan district known for its IEDs? The former is far more likely to get a medal or certificate, even though the danger is real for them both. So what’s the difference?

It seems to me that it depends upon the level of sacrifice or strenuous achievement one manages “above and beyond one’s call to duty” — supererogation. The citizen happening upon the trapped driver has no generally accepted duty to put himself in harm’s way to effect the rescue. The “grunt” who pulls his buddy from a burning Humvee or MRAP does.

Around these parts we have "unsung heroes." They don't pull drowning children from raging rivers or run into blazing infernos to rescue an incapacitated citizen. They simply do things to help us all live better lives. They help serve lunch at a cancer center. They work with hospice patients. They help place abandoned pets. They have no duty to do the things they do, but they do it anyway. And there will be no medals awarded. They remain unsung.

On the other hand, there are some real heroes amonst us -- people who really have rescued drowning children or incapacitated citizens. More power to them. Keep up the good work.

Editor's note: So, what have you ever done to be a hero? --Robo-ed.  {|} The most heroic thing I've done is spend about three hours scraping dried feces off the bathroom floor in an elderly person's home, because even though there was a 2,000 gallon a day leak, plumbers refused to come in to fix it. --Sleepless. {|} Ha! Not exactly like throwing yourself on a live grenade. Is it? --Robo-ed. {|} Well, no one else would do it. --Sleepless.

This is how the Tea Party riots -- shopping trips to Ferguson to help the looted shop owners

This is a feel good story if there ever was one. See Area Residents Take to the Streets of Ferguson. But Not for the Reason You Think. Excerpt:

St. Louis County residents who wanted their voices to be heard decided to show up in Ferguson, Mo. Their goal: To give some much-needed business to shops damaged by vandals and looters.

More than 40 members of the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition headed to the embattled town Thursday evening to shop at the small businesses and support the local economy.

Led by Bill Hennessy, one of the group’s founders, they shopped at a variety of stores in Ferguson and made plans to “buycott” the St. Louis suburb again next weekend.

In an era when it seems everyone is out to plunder to satisfy some sense of unrequited entitlement, it's so nice to read about people who actually care about and want to help others.  What a country this is.

Help a victim or run away -- hidden camera test

Here's the scenario: Elevator door opens, and inside are two guys. They are on the floor and one is strangling the other with a cord. What do you do?

This hidden camera experiment took place in New York City, and we all remember stories from days gone by when insentient New Yorkers ignored people in peril. So what would they do today?

Watch the video here and see for yourself.

Via Thechive.com.

Good citizen sighting -- a random act of kindness

So I'm walking toward a sandwich shop around lunchtime today, and I spy a lady leaving a water dispenser on a bicycle with a plastic bottle containing about a gallon of water nestled in one arm. The other arm was controlling the handlebars, and she was basically walking astride the bicycle, moving a few inches per stride.

I watched her for half a minute then went in to purchase a sandwich to go. Once I had made my purchase, the woman had advanced only a few feet, and I'm trying to figure out how I could help. The vehicle I was driving would accommodate a passenger, but not a bicycle. About all I could offer was to take the water bottle off her hands and deliver it to wherever she wanted and let her peddle the bike on her own.

But lo and behold, just as I started in her direction a lady in an SUV pulled up to her and engaged her in a conversation. After about a minute of talking and gesturing, the bike lady gave the SUV lady a big hug, and two of them proceeded to load the bike in the back of the SUV.

What a great feeling it is to know that there are people around who would help a stranger like that. Thank you SUV lady. You are a good citizen.