<div>Greetings fellow listservees,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>First of, congrats Peter!! You've really got everybody talking... For me, when you characterize the event as a 'Property Crime,' I can immediately identify with the perpetrator (setting aside the assault portion, anyway.) Add to that the fact that it was not my property, makes it all the easier. In fact, for those of you who haven't already seen it, there's a remarkable film about this very subject: The Bicycle Thief (
<font face="Verdana" size="2">Ladri di Biciclette, <font face="Verdana" size="2">Vittorio de Sica, 1948</font></font>) <a href="http://www.filmnotes.com/articles/bicycle.html">http://www.filmnotes.com/articles/bicycle.html
</a>. ( That our perps were wearing uniforms and had burglar tools makes me suspicious--quite the organized operation for a couple of crank heads.) </div>
<div> </div>
<div>My high-mindedness, however, breaks down with traffic violations; i.e., something that affects me directly. With your logic, I should take another look at the guy driving the garbage truck, who happens to be talking on his cell phone, and making a left turn in front of me... I should think about how he was raised, perhaps in a law-of-the-jungle type Southie neighborhood, without ever having considered what it was like to be a cyclist on the streets of Boston, never having access to higher education, etc.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>And to be honest with you, I know in my mind that you are right: I should be be the bigger person. After all, I am educated, I have a great job, two beautiful daughters, great legs (thanks to biking--no offense to you scooter malingerers) etc. But, and I'm sure anybody who's ridden a bike in this city for five minutes knows what I'm taking about, I feel fear, tremendous fear, then anger, followed by rage, and finally hatred when that truck turns towards me. I hate that guy. I hate everyone who's ridden before me in this city that's braked because of a$$holes like him. The legacy of 'bigger people,' who have been letting that MF get away with it for years, has forced me to yield when it's my right to ride, free from fear...
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I have no idea whatsoever how to resolve this conflict...</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Regarding the criminalization of drugs--I don't think it's so much an issue about who's the victim of this 'crime,' but its limiting influence on industrial output. Now, I'm absolutely not qualified to talk about this stuff, but as one working stiff talking to another, maybe we can flesh this out. Think about it, you're a dandy--a trust funder who has inherited wealth from daddy, and like your father you run a business and have friends that are politicians. Your political friends need money to get elected to office, lots of money, so that puts you in a nice spot: Explicit, or otherwise, you have a say in how policies (laws) are written. Now, of course, you're also proud--you don't want to be the one who wastes the family fortune--you want to expand it!! You're a capitalist!! And, having workers that are drugged-out just won't do. But, at the same time, you don't want them to be too frisky (starting rebellions, unions, and crap)--thank God for
t.v. Not only does this keep folks occupied when they're not at work, but it also gives them a reason to come back to work tomorrow--THEY NEED MORE MONEY TO BUY CRAP THEY SAW ADVERTISED ON T.V.!!!</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Jeff</div>
<div> </div>
<div>P.S. I'm going to my first CM tonight. So, if you notice a guy with a trek 520 touring bike, who looks like a Richie Cunningham dork--be nice, I'm a punk on the inside!!</div>
<div> </div>