Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Conflicted or "You Can't Fix `Stupid`"

I often got for about a two-mile walk after I get home, change clothes and feed the critters. This evening, across the street, I saw a sight which conflicted me.

There is a commercial building that is unoccupied after business hours. The land it is on is about four feet above the grade of the street; the grass slopes down at about a 30deg angle to the street. On the top of the grade, some kids had laid a couple sheets of plywood so that they could get up a little bit of speed and jump their skateboards into the air and try to land on the skateboards on the sidewalk or the street.

The street has some traffic in the evening, so the kids had to stop a lot. None of those kids had any kind of safety gear whatsoever; no helmets, pads, wrist guards, nothing.

I thought briefly about calling the cops, but decided not to. Yes, one of those kids could land the wrong way and bust his fool skull open on the curb. They might cut it close one time and go into traffic. The kids knew that that were misbehaving; I heard one remark: "If my mom knew I was doing this, she'd be pissed."

But I couldn't see what calling the cops would do that would be any good. More than likely the kids would just be pissed off at the Officer Krupke who was unfortunate enough to get the call. Nothing would change except the cops and the kids would have another reason to be angry with each other.

So I let it go.

5 comments:

BobG said...

"Think of it as evolution in action."
--Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Earl said...

For the kid that had his own fool stunts long ago, and those you watched, thanks for not becoming the Nanny state. I have my scars and scares, and I did grow up -- more or less depending on ones view point. Thanks.

Fixer said...

Indeed, culling the herd of future Republicans. Teenageism is nature's way of getting the really stupid put of the way early.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I would have let it go. Unless, of course, one of those kids was mine. I'd tell him what I always tell him...I'm not a patient mother when they're healthy and injury free. I'd be really impatient were they to be ill or injured. (That's the cleaned up version.)

Chuck Pergiel said...

The hard thing to do is talk to the kids yourself. If they are doing something obviously dangerous (to you, maybe not to them), a word or two can make a big difference.