I am a completely ruined mother after reading Patricia Cornwall and James Patterson. I will never let my sons run around our street with out me being outside, like I did as a child, because either from media hype, fiction or paranoia I am afraid my child will be abducted, raped and possibly eaten. The saddest part of all this? There are some nice people out there that I will never trust or even say a kind word to because I'm afraid of strangers.
Today I had a friend post that she was in the parking lot of Sam's Club walking to her car with her cart and daughter when a man came up to her and said, "you have a child, take care of her and I'll help you unload your cart." He then did just that, unloaded her groceries into the back of her car and then put the cart away for her. He didn't ask for money, he was just helping. My first thought? Creepy. Is he memorizing her license plate number so he can go to her house and kill her? Is he trying to see if she has anything worth stealing from Sam's Club? Yep, I'm ruined for life by my cynicism. I would NEVER let someone I don't know help me. I want to say it's because of all the media hype over serial killers, pedophiles, etc..., but I think it could be where we live.
I have heard from visiting people (International and National) that Californians are the rudest and lest helpful people they have ever met and I agree. In my mind when a neighbor moves in next door you say hi, but in reality you ask all the neighbors what they've heard and secretly scope them out to see if they are going to be good or not. You may wave, but more than likely you turn your back so you don't have to. I HATE IT! I want to live where I don't have to worry about my kids. I want to live where people say hi and have a nice day and mean it. The nicest stranger I know is the counter person at 7/11 who wishes me good luck when I buy a lotto ticket. So why are Californians so cynical? Are we afraid of the scary people we read of in books? Has the media made us this way or is it just our over inflated egos that make us believe we are better than everyone and we should ignore, not socialize and overall be rude?
Maybe instead of teaching our kids stranger danger so much we should teach our kids to pay it forward. That a kind word will make someones day and actions speak louder than words. Obviously strangers are still scary people and you can't trust everyone, but wouldn't the world be a little better if we tried to trust instead of convicting people of crimes we don't even know of because we're afraid and too good to be nice?
4 comments:
I work on that with mine ALL the time! When Fin was a few months old I took a trip just the two of us to DC. Arriving home at the airport I had him strapped to my chest and could NOT get my giant bag off the carousel at LAX. I mean, I was STANDING on the carousel GOING AROUND and no one would help me. I finally got it and actually got death stares for being in the way. Sigh. DC? Ten people jumped to help me.
The problem in this world is cynical people like you! How dare you even suggest that a man possibly wanted to take down my daughter's license plate and go to her house and murder her. What is your problem? He was a gentleman in a suit parked next to her car. He said, "you have a little one, why don't you let me help you." You take that kind gesture and percive it as something evil. I can't help but wonder what kind of person you are. You think that "Californians are the rudest and lest helpful people you have ever met." You want to live where you don't have to worry about your kids. What's wrong with Santa Clarita? Shame on you for blogging your morbid sense of reality. You are the kind of person we need to be afraid of.
Whoa there, SBurns! This is Jenny's blog where she is entitled to write her opinion and speak her mind. You are completely overreacting and your condescending tone is unnecessary.
Stranger danger is something that is so hard to teach. How do you know who to trust and who not to? It's hard for me as an adult so how do I teach my children?
I personally think that the man helping your friend in the parking lot isn't a little creepy - it's frankly A LOT creepy. And the fact that SBurns says he's in a suit? So what? That makes it even creepier. Anyone can go down to the garment district and buy a suit for very little money. Am I to believe that because this man is in a suit that he's safe? I think not.
I immediately thought that I would never allow anyone to help me with my groceries - even a woman - because I have no idea what they might be putting into my car besides MY stuff. A tracking device? A microphone? A bomb? It's ridiculously horrible that those are my thoughts? Absolutely but in this day and age when all we hear is horror stories of people in parking lots - I'm steering clear.
It does suck that we have to be so wary of people - even neighbors but unfortunately this is the world we live in. The SCV is very safe but never perfect.
Post a Comment