"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Friday, July 15, 2016

Antidote

To all the crap that's in the news about the Republican candidate, the Republican platform, killer cops and their apologists. Sometimes people just do the right thing:

When police officers were called to investigate a tent set up outside a Georgia college, they didn’t expect to find inspiration.

The officers were called July 9 to a campsite near a Gordon State College parking lot, where they found a 19-year-old homeless student staying in a tent hidden in some bushes, reported The Herald-Gazette.

The officers ordered him out of his tent with his hands up, but they listened to his story instead of writing a ticket for trespassing.

Fredrick Barley had ridden six hours — and more than 50 miles — on his younger brother’s 20-inch bicycle and arrived about a month early for his second year as a biology major, with nothing but his tent, a duffle bag, a box of cereal and two gallons of water.

The student, who hopes to go on to medical school, wanted to make sure he had enough time to find a job before classes began, and he spent his days riding his too-small bike to fill out applications at local businesses.

Click through to read the whole story -- it's the way things should happen. Here's the kid's reaction, in his own words.


Sidebar: It can't be just me -- I'm sure other people feel the same. Short story: I was waiting for the bus one afternoon; a few feet down a man hailed a cab, which pulled up in front of me because the bus was pulling in -- several feet from the man, who was obviously disabled. As the man made his way to the cab, I opened the door and held it until he was in and seated. When I got on the bus, the drive said "That was a good thing you did." I was sort of flabbergasted -- all I could think of to say was "It's just what you do."

What was I supposed to do, just stand there and watch this poor guy, who seemed to have had a stroke, trying to get himself and his walker into the cab without helping?

I don't think I'm weird.


1 comment:

Peter said...

This is terrific. Thanks for posting it.