Only the unsuccessful landings make news.....

There was a bit of a buzz in the papers and TV over a fellow who tried to cash in for himself on the hardship and sadness of those who lived in Norwich's Peachtree Apartments that were destroyed by fire last weekend. There have been so many 'good news' stories, about people helping one another out with donations of food, clothing, money and places to live, that it made sense, in a perverse way, that there would be at least one instance of someone behaving less than swell.

This fellow perhaps felt that he was helping us better emulate Abraham Lincoln's model, 'with malice towards none, with charity to all' and concluded that no one helps you as well as you help yourself. In all honesty, I don't know what motivated him to tell the folks at one of the collection drops for Peachtree residents that, he, too, was a resident and to attempt to leave with some household goods. He didn't get far and the police took him into custody. Perhaps it was greed but perhaps it was need. I don't think I'm the person who can make that call but good on you if you can.

Stories like this hurt a little more every time you read them or hear them because all of the assistance that has been pouring in for the victims of the fire (and the fire a few days later over on Central Avenue) helps reassure us that we are, indeed, manifestations of the good in the world that we see ourselves as being. I don't think any one gets up and says 'what harm can I cause today?' or 'how can I abuse the trust and faith of others?' but, when you look at a newscast or read a newspaper, it does seem, at times, like a concerted effort is being made to make that happen. It's more like a Confederacy of Dunces than an alliance of malevolence.

Do we shrug our shoulders, and shake our heads? Do we give up or give in? Do we despair because while so many were making small steps in one direction, someone chose a path of least resistance? When you enter a room filled with strangers you can reach out to shake a hand or you can ball your fist. What you do can create a friend or a fiend, it's your choice. And that's the dirty secret of free will-using it comes with a cost.
-bill kenny