The next morning my neighbor met me at the end of my driveway in tears.  He informed me that last night a parcel truck struck and killed his dog, right in front of him while he was outside playing with the dog.  The truck never stopped or acknowledged hitting anything.  The dog was known and favored by all of our neighbors, and the family is devastated.

Later that day a parcel truck delivered a package to my house.  As the driver exited his truck, I met him in the driveway.  I asked him if he was the same driver from the previous night, and he indicated he was.  I asked him if anything unusual occurred as he passed my house the previous night, and he indicated nothing unusual.

I told him as he passed my house the night before, there was a loud bang, loud enough that I heard it as did my other neighbor who was in his house.  He then acknowledged that he remembered hearing something, but thought that a package had fallen in the back of his truck.

I informed him that the loud sound he had heard was his truck striking and killing my neighbor’s dog.

A week has gone by, and the same driver has been delivering packages to our neighborhood since I spoke with him.  While not necessarily his fault that the dog was killed by his truck, one would think he would be gracious enough to either stop at their house and talk with them, or send them a note or something acknowledging what happened and their loss.

Nothing.

Worse, his racing down our street has not stopped.  One would have thought after learning that he struck and killed a dog that he should slow down, especially since there are small children playing in our neighborhood, but that hasn’t resignated with him either.

I first heard this story last week at a local restaurant having breakfast with my son.  I searched to find the story, and to my surprise it occurred just as they other patrons had described.

A homeless man found a wallet containing cash, and faced with the dilemma of keeping the cash to buy gifts for his three kids for Christmas versus returning the wallet (funds intact) to the rightful owner, he chose to return the wallet.  A true testament to the fact that there are good people in our society who still value doing the right thing, even when presented with an easier route that would provide personal benefit.

The result of his actions has been an outpouring of calls to provide support not only to the man, but also to the shelter that has provided housing to him.  On a more personal note, his action transformed him from being an unknown homeless vet to “Brian the homeless man from outside Boston who chose to do the right thing.”

Hats off to Brian and all those who have extended offerings to support him and the homeless shelter.

Here’s the URL to one of the articles about this story:

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/national/homeless-vet-brian-christopher-returns-wallet-he-found-in-boston-20101216-wpms

One witness told us the young lady backed into our car, making it move, and then walked over to our vehicle.  She shrugged her shoulders, walked back to her car, and drove away.

I am happy to report that while having our vehicle damaged yet again (this makes like five times), for the first time, the plate the witnesses provided along with their description lead to the young lady being arrested.  She is at the police station as I write this blog – horray !

Had the witnesses decided not to get involved, commonplace in today’s busy society, we would simply have found our damaged vehicle for the fifth time, and suffered another hefty repair bill (our auto body shop knows us all too well).

To anyone who witnesses something and chooses to step forward to help make those less responsible to be held accountable, thank you!

Seatbelts make that difference.  In a roll-over accident, it is common for the occupant(s) to be ejected out a window, and either the ejection or the vehicle rolling over them causes serious to fatal injuries.  I have witnessed this too many times, as has anyone who has responded to these calls.

As I was considering this post earlier this morning, I received news that the brother of someone I know living out West was driving his car this past weekend.  In the car were both of his parents.  He lost control, the car rolled, and his father and mother were ejected from the vehicle.  Mom’s outcome was a rare occurrence – she survived with minimal injuries.  Dad was less fortunate and was killed in the accident.  No one was wearing their seat belts even though icy conditions were present.

The outcomes of both accidents could be attributable to one simple variable – wearing seat belts.  I can attest based on my fourteen years experience, I have seen some pretty bad accidents, and those wearing seat belts fared better than those who did not.

Please ensure the best possible outcome for yourself, your family and your passengers.  Be sure to always wear your seat belt, and insist every passenger wears theirs as well.

There were two conferences that day, and several sponsor displays (including ours) in the hallway between both groups.  Throughout the day folks would comment on the stuffed penguins, to be used later in the evening for table decorations at the reception.

At lunch time all the booths were unmanned, and I was eating lunch at the registration table a distance away from our booth, but within eyesight of everything.  I observed two adult women from the other conference return from the rest room and stop at my booth,  They commented to each other about the penguins, and looked around to see if anyone was watching them.  They didn’t see me sitting away eating lunch, and what they saw was all the booths unattended.

They walked away and back into their conference room.  A minute or so later I walked down and was standing away by some of the other booths.  One of the woman reappeared from the conference room along with a second woman, who was carrying a scarf in her hand.  They both looked around and saw than no one was around the booth.  They headed to my booth, looked around some more, and picked up a penguin.  They never realized I was coming up right behind them.  The woman holding the scarf was opening it and swirling it in her hands when I asked them if they needed anything.

Startled, they asked me where the young lady was who was at the booth earlier in the day.  Not too observant as I was sitting with my assistant (the young lady) at my booth all day.  I told them she lad left, and asked what they wanted.  They asked if they could have a penguin.  I told them they couldn’t, because they were the table decorations for the receiption.  They very not happy – they wanted a penguin.  They lingered – they still wanted one and were unwilling to take no for an answer.

Busted.  These two adult women were about to steal our displays and conceal their theft in their scarf.  I watched them case the booths, return with a plan and an accomplish, and a scarf to conceal their theft.

Adults – doesn’t make you wonder long why the kids these days are getting worse and worse – it all starts with their upbringing.

It’s so unfortunate that you can not simply enjoy life anymore, and that you always have to keep your guard up – and it is because of people like these women who have ruined our society.

The problem is fraud will find you even when you are not looking for it.

Southwest Airlines – well known for their fares, no frills flights and boarding process.  The earliest passengers to check in get the better line positions after those who paid extra for early boarding.  All the seats are pretty much the same, except for the few rows with extra leg room (front row, wing aisles).  And the extra le room comes in handy when it will be a long flight, which mine was to be.

Waiting to board a flight that was delayed, so I watched a couple come into the terminal and head towards our gate. I was there very early and observed pretty much everyone coming on our flight.  The couple reached the gate area and observed the number of passengers waiting, along with two wheelchaired passengers all the way up front.

The husband sets their things down and the wife sits with their bags.  The husband returns and they leave with their bags, only to return with the wife now riding in a Southwest wheelchair.  He brings the wife right to the front of the lines, and waits.  Mind you they were both carrying bags and walking, through security, through the terminals…

Boarding begins, and they are brought down to the plane before anyone,  After the “A”s board and most of the “B”s board, I get down onto the plane.  As I entered the cabin who is sitting nice and comfortably in the very first row with the extra leg room, relaxing – that would be the same couple.  What a great scam – put someone in a wheelchair and board before everyone – what a great message that sends to those who truly need the wheelchairs. Perhaps they figured no one would notice their scam – we’ll I noticed.

Funny thing is when we landed no sky captain waiting to bring the wheelchair passenger wife back off the plane.  In fact, no wheelchair even waiting for their use.  You would think that if the crew saw that they needed a wheelchair to board, they would require one when they departed.  Guess not, not that they wouldn’t have simply taken the chair and ditched it once in the terminal.

What’s wrong with people – has our society simply become a “get anything I can for myself at any cost” society?  Doesn’t anyone have pride and self-respect any more?

I wish I could turn off the observations at times.

Last week during a Boy Scouts meeting, as the meeting was underway, my son’s boy scout uniform (just back from having patches sewn on) was hanging in the back to bring home after the meeting.  In plain view with constant activity, someone stole his uniform off the rack.  Gone, without a trace (and ironically after I posted the virtues of Boy Scouting).  Now we must buy him a new uniform and all the badges and patches that accompany it.  Who would have figured that to happen?

Yesterday I was packing up the outside furniture for the season, and storing the outside items away.  When I went to disassemble our hammock in the front yard, I discovered a small problem.  No hammock.  Someone had stolen our hammock right from the front of our house, where it sat all season.  Perhaps for the metal (scrap value), perhaps to enjoy on their own property?  Either way a brazen larceny right from our front yard.

Now today I learned bicycles were stolen last evening from my mother-in-law’s house, moved just yesterday to be stored today for the season.  When they went to put them away they encountered a small problem – no more bikes to store.  Someone during the night came through her fence and made off with the bikes.

I searched tonight to determine if property crimes were occurring more frequently, and if so, why that was the case.  I didn’t find any meaningful information.  I did find an interesting article that made the loss of my son’s scout uniform pale in comparison to the loss of an entire boy scout troop’s gear.

Troop 154 stored all their gear in a troop trailer, and when thieves stole the troop’s trailer, they stole the entire gear inventory for the troop.  Here’s the link to their story:

http://www.c-dh.net/articles/2010/10/13/top_stories/02scouttroop.txt

Trustworthy

Loyal

Helpful

Friendly

Courteous

Kind

Obedient

Cheerful

Thrifty

Brave

Clean

Reverent

In my next post I will reveal the source of these twelve important character traits as well as their significance.

Last month just after having the bumper replaced on our SUV, someone ran into the new bumper in a parking lot, and simply drove away, leaving behind $450 damage for us to pay.  Last week my mother in law parked her minivan at a hotel.  In the morning she saw where someone during the night ran into her minivan, damaging the entire back bumper.  No other vehicles were around when she discovered the damage.

The more people I talk to, the more I find similar things happened to their cars.  Then as I look around at cars, on the road or in parking lots, I see the amount of scratches and damage on other vehicles, and wonder just how many of those were caused by individuals who never took responsibility.

I think the Allstate commercial simply captures what is happening everywhere, and not just by teenagers.  Hurried or distracted adults and seniors cause just as much damage, and simply drive away. A relative watched a senior try to parallel park.  He struck the front and rear vehicles twice each before ending his parking.  He simply walked into the store as if nothing happened.

For those of you with kids, you’ll appreciate this story.  This week at church when my son threw open his car door, he impacted it right into the passenger door of the neighboring car.  He caused a 3-4 inch deep scratch right in the middle of their door, as well as a dent.  I was mortified.  For a moment I looked at it and thought just how easy it would be to simply move my car to a different spot, knowing no one saw what just happened.  Then I wondered just how someone could live with themselves after doing it, knowing the person whose car you just damaged was in church with you, and likely every week.  I used it as a lesson for my kids.  I told the the only thing to do was to find the person after church, explain what happened, provide our information, and pay for the damage after they obtained an estimate.  I wasn’t happy about having to pay money, but it was the only thing to do.

After church the car was still there, and we spoke with the car’s owner.  After hearing what happened and my position on people who don’t take responsibilities for their actions, the woman told us not to worry about it, and that we should have a nice day.  I was floored.  Perhaps she was equally floored that someone actually took responsibility for their actions.

Things can have a happy ending even when you do the right thing, and you sleep at night knowing you did the right thing.

Just how many people in today’s society would act similarly?  The answer likely is – most would think I was crazy for not simply moving my car to another area of the parking lot.  What a great lesson that would have been for my kids – likely what has happened to the continual erosion of our society.

The email describes a new issue posing a significant risk, where individuals use empty soda bottles and common household items to make bombs out of empty plastic soda bottles.  Then they put these bottles into folks’ mailboxes or leave them on people’s lawns.  The unsuspecting person sees an empty bottle on their lawn, picks it up to properly discard or recycle it, and it explodes.   The chemicals inside heated to a boiling point, and cause severe thermal and chemical burns, likely to the hands and face, and the explosion can take off fingers.

We teach our kids to be litter conscious, and if they see things on the ground, to pick them up and recycle the things that shouldn’t be discarded.  The kids I know at our school and in our boy scout troop get this message repeatedly, and have become accustomed to seeing things laying around and picking them up.

Now what do we tell them to do.  Do we simply leave all litter and bottles on the ground for fear that what looks like an empty soda bottle with a little soda left in it is actually a bomb?  How do we re-train our kids to ensure they don’t have one of these explode on them?  I know for myself I don’t want to even touch one again after reading the article and viewing the video.

Think about the implications this likely will have on our environment, recycling, and our safety.  Just sad.

What can be done so individuals stop ruining our society and our way of life?

Here’s the link to the story and video:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp