Signs of the Times

Just a few signs of the times to show y'all:

• A San Francisco Giants fan was stabbed through the heart for brushing his body against a car. His attackers are still on the loose. (Thousands showed up to see Barry Bonds hit a home run; none saw the stabbing).
• A man is fired from the Oakland Airport Security for trying to organize a union for screeners. (See East Bay Express for more details.)
• A man, refusing to stop smoking in a smoke-free environment, resists arrest, gets tazered and then shot in the chest by a police officer. Yes, he's dead.

These are just a few incidents in the past weeks here in the Bay Area.

The last incident cited above, kind of reminds me of the caning incident from Singapore. As someone who lived in S'pore for 8 years, I get asked if I agree with whether the kid deserved caning. I can't help but wonder if Bosnians (the smoker was a Bosnian) are going to make an international ruckus (much like we Americans did during that whole Singaporean fiasco) about how Americans treat law-breakers. Alright, granted, this wasn't ordered by a court of law, but still, a police office did the violence. Oh, we see the splinter in others' eyes but.....

On the other hand, there are examples of humanity that far outshine others. Did you know that the NFL doesn't allow backpacks to games. Any other forms of carrying goods is okay. Just no backpacks. (Yes, if I sound like I think this is an insipid rule, it's cause I DO think that!). Upon this discovery within a shifting, momentum driven throng of masses, I fought my way upriver (I thought about trying to flop my way through the crowd surfing the waves of hair and skulls but realized my girl would never speak to me again) and asked a total stranger to keep the backpack in their car until the game is over. The total stranger, a fireman in Stockton, CA, smilingly obliged. And all I could think of were the many excuses my family (in short, my mother) would find NOT to be so obliging. Sometimes Americans are simply amazing. Other times, not so much.

Filed under Politics & B.S. and Reveries & Paranoias