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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (72969)	8/22/2003 7:14:47 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Huh? I think it fits fine. Why don't you? the little kids should learn to just walk right on by the statute and pay them no never mind. Well, that's one option. But how will that come to pass? The kids just get a flash of inspiration one day that maybe the guys are just statues after all and nothing to be afraid of? And if that flash of inspiration doesn't occur and the kids, say, out of fear burn down the building to keep the statues from hanging out there and a war ensues, this is somehow a good thing? OTOH, if the alleged bullies were to have some public spirit, some kindness, some empathy, some civility, they might take steps to engage the kids to convey that they aren't to be feared. Explain to the kids what they're doing and assure them that they mean them no harm. They wouldn't invite them to hang out, necessarily, but maybe take them to a ball game one day as a gesture of friendship. And if the kids weren't persuaded and said that the knives they carried were making it hard to put away their fears, maybe the alleged bullies would understand how knives might be offputting to kids and either not carry the knives, since they really don't need them when they're just hanging out, or carry them where they can't be seen. Let's say that they didn't carry knives and it was just the bandanas they wore that were scary. Of course, the alleged bullies couldn't understand how anyone could be afraid of a bandana and they felt they needed the bandanas as a symbol of their culture. But they would talk among themselves and with the kids to see if there was any way to work it out, a different way to wear the bandana perhaps, and they would give some thought to whether the bandana was important enough to justify scaring the kids and if maybe the bandana wasn't all that important after all given the strength of their culture. And they might consider the potential that the kids might act out and what damage a war might do and how that might affect the neighborhood. What they wouldn't do, if they were civic minded, was make it worse by glowering at the kids and jumping out at them when they went by saying "boo" and rant on their corner about what little snots the kids were and how they didn't belong on their street anyway. They wouldn't do that if they were nice. Nor would they do that if they were smart. The smart avoid war because wars ruin things for everyone. The nice avoid wars because, well, nice is nice. Nice and smart don't just say that might makes right and that's that so screw the little snots.