A Random Act of Kindness

     I have a few things that need set straight, but today I'm going to write about something that DOESN'T need set straight. In fact, we need more things like this to happen in the world that don't need setting straight.
     My wife and I own a flower shop, along with one of her sisters and her husband. My wife and sister operate the shop and my brother-in-law does the deliveries. I try to stay away from there because they always try to make me work when I show up. Actually, I show up when ever they need the extra help, or whatever, including things like installing a water heater, fixing a cooler, and so on. It'a a nice little place called The Garden of Eden that sells beautiful flowers and they have lots of cute little gifts, plus some very nice ones. So, if you're ever in Henderson, Nevada, (next door to Las Vegas) stop in and if you need flowers give them a call. You'll be happy you did. But, I digress.
     The reason for this epistle today is something that happened while I was there this morning. It seems awhile back a very good customer of their's (my wife and her sister - hereinafter referred to as the girls) and someone they love and respect dearly had been feeling down after receiving some treatments for leukemia. The woman's name is Betty and is well respected in the community and is rather wealthy, but the girls tell me she is so down to earth it's hard to believe she is wealthy. I've never met her. Like I said, I try to stay away from there. Anyway, the girls thought they would try to cheer her up so they sent her a little plush bear they carry as a gift, as a way of trying to cheer her up. It's a fuzzy little thing that talks when you put its paws together and says cute little things in a child like voice such as "Hope your boo -boo feels all better" and stuff like that. I have to admit it does its job rather well. It was designed to send to people who are sick, but is especially designed to cheer up children.
     Anyway, the woman called back after receiving it and after thanking the girls for their thoughtfulness asked how much the little bears were. After hearing the price, without hesitating, she ordered 25 or so of them. She wanted to donate them to a local cancer center that also treats children. They proved to be a hit with the kids and became known as "Betty's Bears". And, periodically she orders more when the hospital needs more of them. A nice thing, yes? Well, that's not where this stops. "Betty" called this morning and asked my wife to order another 36 bears. Then she filled her in on the rest of this story.
     It seems a little girl, about 4 years old, had been receiving chemo therapy for a form of cancer and had shut down psychologically. She wouldn't talk any longer. The hospital staff and her parents were sure it wasn't physical, but for whatever reason the little girl wouldn't talk. She used to talk, but wouldn't. Got an idea where this is going? Well, yesterday the little girl was in for therapy. And once again, wasn't talking. The therapist decided to get one of "Betty's Bears" to cheer the little girl up. When she clapped the little bears hands together, the little girl repeated every word the bear said. Startled, the therapist clapped its hands together again and each time she did, the little girl repeated what the bear said. The therapist said she had never seen anything like it. Her parents, understandably are thrilled and it looks like this was the major breakthrough they needed. Time will tell, but for the first time in a long time, the little girl talked. The story isn't over just yet. When my wife called the distributor to order more bears, she was told that her company was discontinuing the bears. And they better get this order in soon. When my wife told Betty this, she said how many do they have left? Calls were made, and it ends up that Betty purchased 500 bears so her program could go on. How good is that?
     And all because of two random acts of kindness. My wife and her sister who thought they could make some one feel better, and a generous woman who wanted to make children she had never met feel better. One act of kindness leads to another, and that's a good thing. So, next time you do something to make someone else feel better, the real winner will be you. And perhaps, some little girl or boy somewhere that you will never meet, who needed that to happen. And isn't that a wonderful thing?

Meanwhile over at Pedophile State University

     Just exactly what were the higher ups thinking when they all passed on the chance to take a major child molester out of circulation? If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm glad you stopped by my blog immediately after living in that cave for the past few days, and before you turned on the news. It shows I'm getting a little respect, anyway. The case I'm discussing is the Jerry Sandusky affair currently going on over at Penn State University, now and forever after to be also be known as Pedophile State University.
    I'm not going to reiterate and rehash the accusations or all the coverage, you are well aware of it. My question is how many people believe that after the young coach reported to Head Coach Joe Paterno, also known as God in Pennsylvania, and he reportedly told two other people who went to the President of the University, that not one of them asked him the questions any normal person would ask: What Happened, Exactly? Tell me what you saw. Are you sure?
     Perhaps they are lying. But, for the purposes of this blog, let's assume they weren't. Now the question becomes: How much do I really want to know? This guy is one of my best friends. Surely, he isn't capable of this? Perhaps you only think you saw what you saw.
     Now that we've established it isn't that bad, it's just a few quick decisions away from OK, what do we do about it? What is in the best interests of the University. Because folks, it all comes down to friendship and money. If this gets out it will damage the University. Oh my. If we keep him away from children while on campus, we'll be OK.  But wait, he has a charity called The Second Mile (which ironically takes in underprivileged children and protects them from the ravages of society). OK, we tell them the little bit we know and let them make their own decisions. Now the University is covered. "We told them everything we know, your Honor, none of this is our fault."
     The problem is, you Numb Nuts, that every child that was molested after you knew about this and did nothing about it, IS YOUR FAULT! The greatest gift most child molesters have is that the are trusted by everyone.  And the person they are molesting, generally, trusted them, and after the molester changed their life, either were too frightened, too ashamed, were too afraid no one would believe them, or worse, just figured that's the way life was, and wouldn't tell their parents, or others in authority.  That's what needs setting straight.  And, I'm not sure there's anyway to do that.
     Things will be different for a short while, and perhaps, some parents will sit down with their children and explain this to them, and then, maybe one of two of them will speak up and say something, like, "You mean like when Uncle Frank comes in my room at night and touches me, "down there" that it's not OK like he says it is?" Then, maybe for one family things will be set straight and we can take another one of these predators out of the reaches of society. Let's hope so! Oh, and by the way, let's make the sentences for molesters, life sentences. No sense in having to keep going through all this time after time. Because they won't stop. They can't. But we can stop them!

I was right! and wrong at the same time.

     Back in September I wrote about the fact my car had a problem with the battery and I was waiting for that fateful day when it finally died and I was forced to take it somewhere and have it dealt with. I wrote about thinking it was only a battery problem and hoping it was not more than that, my financial situation (like everyone else's - I know) is such I can't afford a big problem right now. Well, the day came and I was forced to take it in. Guess what? I was right. It was only the battery and while the dealership (which shall go unnamed) tried valiantly to offer me more things to fix, (they did a FREE maintenance check worth $79.95 to find out I had some things that COULD be fixed), but weren't really pressing matters. I declined those suggestions and they replaced the battery, all $248.53 worth, and I picked the car up the next day. Running like a top and all those nasty engine lights and other indicators saying I had something wrong were no longer on. I was right about that, too. Those lights were caused by the negative ground when the battery was jump started. All that went away.
     Well, then you ask, what were you wrong about, Roy? My problem is I took it to a nice place, a Cadillac dealership, which is one of the GM maintenance centers for those of us who purchased a Saturn just before they went out of business. Lucky us, we own two of them. There's a big banner when you drive in that says WELCOME SATURN OWNERS hanging down in the service bay area. So, they realize a good thing. Not only can they fix the Cadillacs which break down, but they can comfort us Saturn owners and make a little money at the same time. Did I say a little money? Let me rephrase that.  A LOT of money at the same time. However, they treated me well, took care of my problem and were nice about it.
     Here's where it went wrong. I left some loose change in the console. I also had a portable GPS system, some CDs and a few other items, like a pen, small notebook, etc. Somebody took the small change. They left the other stuff and took the money. Now it wasn't a lot, probably about $1.50 which I keep there in quarters so I can use it in parking meters. We don't have those fancy-dancy ones that take credit cards like some cities have. You'd think they would with all the money they make at 25 cents for ten minutes. And, the fines they rake in. But, I digress.
     For all of you shaking your heads saying to yourself, you idiot, you left it there in plain sight, what did you expect to happen? You may be right, but I'm one of those people who trusts others until proven wrong. I don't think we should have to take everything out of our cars when we leave it overnight at a place we trust. Or used to trust. I guess I do share some complicity in this by leaving it in a visible spot.  But I should not have to worry about $1.50 in change.  It's not the amount, it's the principle.  I wrote the dealership a letter, and I'm willing to bet you right now, that they will send some sort of "we're sorry this happened" letter and offer me a huge discount or a free something or other on my next visit, as "you are a valuable customer to us", so I don't think I'll come out on the short end of the stick. However, this is the type of thing we shouldn't have to worry about. We should be able to leave a few quarters laying in our console without worrying about it. It's a cultural thing. After the earthquake in Japan, weeks later, small safes were washing up on the beach. The people who found them took them to the local Police station for the Police to attempt to open them and find the rightful owner. In America, we don't have that kind of a culture, with honesty built in, and that's what needs setting straight.