Humpday Happenings...
Middle of the week again, and that means (for us in Fort Wayne's beautifully-ignored ghettohood), that it's the day we put out the trashbins.
So, I'll be rounding up all the refuse we plan to put out at the usual spot along our alley (as the city advises).
For others in the immediate area...it's business as usual, and that means ANYTHING GOES.
You see, if there is one thing you can take from living among Satan's spawn, it's that they have a lot more "free reign" than you would choose to take for yourself. It's the whole "lack of self-control" gig. And it permeates every facet of their meaningless lives, unfortunately.
Even more unfortunate is the fact these traits will be passed onto the offspring as sure as the sun will set in the West.
I suppose undeserved entitlements DO have their perverted sense of "commitment".
Anyway, when it comes to trash, the missus and I pretty much have only ONE 48 gallon bin. Rare is the time when we have MORE than that, but if we ever do, I have two other bins to accommodate the overflow.
Not so around here...










Some houses, which shall remain nameless ((...*aaaa-choo, HUD*)) have up to THREE 96 gallon bins (with only 2 adults inside) and are often filled to the brim by thoughtless, uncaring individuals, with no intent on following ANY city guidelines when it comes to amount of trash they accumulate, where they place the bins, or even where they decide to LEAVE them after the trash has been picked up.
There are days I'm SO glad I'm not a trash worker in this city, especially down HERE.
I can see me now...getting ready to pull away from a house, when a flip-flop shod, flannel pants clad, half-awake baby-mama wearing her boyfriend-of-the-week's over sized t-shirt lazily strolls up with yet another bag of trash in her hand and asks:
"Am ah too late fo de trash?"
And I smartly answer in my BEST Rodney Dangerfield: "Why NO, hop the hell IN!"
Yeah, sarcasm knows NO bounds with me.
But I digress...
Yesterday, and I know this will come as a BIG surprise to all of you faithful followers, we had something "interesting" happen.
We had a signal *75* - (POLICE PURSUIT) right through our area (well, actually a block over).
It began a few blocks north of us, and the missus heard it come across the radio, so she alerted me to the officer's *10*. By the time I got to the window, I saw the 2 cruisers zoom past the next street over, heading southbound, then she told me they went EAST. It's only 15 steps from one window to another (about 3 seconds), but THAT FAST, the cruisers were past that OTHER street.
The chase ended soon afterward near Pettit and Lillie Sts.
(not all that far from that 3rd shooting the other night)
Officers advised that a *62* was tossed from the window (a weapon) near Sherwood Terrace (one block north of us). Turns out (as described over the radio) that the weapon was an "AR" (as in M-16 type weapon)...and it was not loaded.
So much for our excitement for the afternoon, hmm?
I'll wager a week's salary the perp was black...the pieces just seem to fit.
And the law of averages tips in favor of that.
Funny how I mentioned to the department a while back (well over two years, in fact) that THIS sort of "thang" was coming to this neighborhood, and others surrounding it. I could see it then like it was happening today.
It's like an odd form of precognition...the type you hate to see come true.
One thing that WILL be coming true enough very soon, is that kids around here will be returning to school.
And that's a mixed bag for me.
On the one hand, it gets the little buggers OUT of the area for the better part of the damn day.
On the OTHER hand, it all but turns the area OVER completely to those that produced those buggers in the first place, along with all their "friends".
I mean what else can you do the whole day when those children aren't all over the place, burning off that Cheetos and Mountain Dew "high", but milling aimlessly about and catching up with causing their very own kind of trouble.
Whenever school is in session, that writes a blank check for ALL those young blacks (male AND female) with nothing to do all damn but annoy the hell out of anyone else, toss more trash out car windows, play even more loud music, and otherwise embody the type of nuisance we, the (few) NORMAL people have come to know and "love"...
Back in Philly, we'd call such impromptu sidewalk, or mid-street gatherings:
"NAACP MEETINGS"...!
Nice to know SOME "things" NEVER change, isn't it?
Moving along...
Just finished mowing the side and front lawn...AND scraping away about a foot of dirt and trash from alongside the curb. Traffic along this particular street has risen markedly over the last 2 years, no doubt due to the "locals" staying OFF the "main" streets (where the police could possibly pull them over).
Well, it's ALWAYS easy to patrol the BIG streets...
The REAL police work is done on all those numerous side and "back" streets as well as alleys in the city.
THAT is where all the bad things tend to occur. They just wind up ON those big streets, eventually.
And if we HAD more patrols on our smaller streets, perhaps we wouldn't have the things we do happen ON those streets.
People might actually have a change of heart when they view the officers here, because I DO know that the "thin blue line" in this part of town walks on eggshells, thanks to a flawed methodology in dealing with specific societal issues. This isn't to say the officers won't respond when a crisis hits...they DO, and are only TOO happy to get involved, like yesterday's pursuit..
The trouble surfaces in between such calls.
People around here (yours truly excluded, naturally) feel they don't really NEED the police...EXCEPT when THEY can't deal with a problem THEMSELVES, and by that, I mean their own form of "street-justice" doesn't quite cut the muster.
The police are called upon ONLY as a LAST RESORT in too many instances, when they SHOULD be utilized as the FIRST RESORT...I mean, that's what the taxpayers are paying for, isn't it?
But with an entitlement mentality, you're GIVEN everything, including all the problems that come with such a cavalier attitude towards life and all that comes along with it. It teaches you NOTHING...except how to want (read demand) MORE all the time, when you're never willing to reciprocate with doing anything that would EARN you such societal dividends.
I admit to waking up some days and wondering WTF has gone wrong with our society, that we have devalued human beings so much, as to shackle them in another form of bondage; a form of slavery so insidious, and subtle, that many people are not even aware that they've BEEN enslaved.
When you OWE your entire existence to the Feds, or the state, or even to the city, I'm sorry, but you're a freaking SLAVE.
(so go build a frigging pyramid or something...)
At BEST, you'd be an indentured SERVANT, and that's as close to slavery as you can get without wearing the title.
That is NO way to better oneself...to grow, and certainly to PROSPER as a people.
In the movie Animal House, Dean Wormer (the late John Vernon) once said that:
"Fat, drunk and stupid is NO way to go through life, son"
Well, with this entitlement mindset, we've pretty much reaped a generational harvest of such people.
And we're also continuing to plant the "seeds" for NEXT year's "crop".
Now, I'm just an old city boy, transplanted to the "Amber Waves Of Grain" Midwest...not a farmer, but even I can see the writing on the barn at this point.
This is one runaway train we're never going to stop completely, and certainly are going to have the hardest of times to slow the hell down.
What needs to be done is to imbue all these people (somehow) with a much better sense of self...and NOT by another dumb-ass program that wastes money, time, effort, and does nothing but stroke their EGO.
I'm talking about having THEM believe that THEY indeed CAN find a level of self-worth, by becoming RESPONSIBLE people.
Maybe it all comes down to that old friend...COMMON SENSE.
And maybe it can be achieved with a LOT less money, a LOT less hassle, and a LOT more involvement by those that have been sitting on the bench along the sidelines, collecting wood ALL this time...'ya think?
IT would be an OBVIOUS thing to do...many would think of it as an epiphany.
A few CIVICS lessons down here would go a VERY long way, trust me...
We'll never know, unless someone tries.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.