Newspaper Page Text
The Champion, Thursday, January 7-13, 2016 OPINION
Page 5A
Ringing in the new year with kindness
“Carry out a random act
of kindness, with no expecta
tion of reward, safe in the
knowledge that one day some
one might do the same for
you.”—Princess Diana
On New Year’s Day, I
took my 14-year-old daugh
ter Adrianna to see the Star
Wars movie. While walk
ing across the parking lot at
Stonecrest Mall, I spotted
a leather wallet between
two cars. I picked it up and
looked in it to try to deter
mine the owner. It had the
usual items you find in a
mans wallet: some credit
cards, an employee iden
tification card, insurance
cards—and $85 in cash.
I wanted to call the
owner, but I could not find a
Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
Managing Editor
@AndrewChampNews □
phone number in the wallet.
I thought about taking it to
some mall representatives,
but the mall is huge, and I
figured that would decrease
the chances of the owner get
ting his wallet back without
money being taken or his
credit cards being used.
So I decided that after
the movie I would take the
wallet to the owners house,
which was on my way home.
Adrianna and I went into
the theater to meet up with
three of her young friends,
two of whom I had bought
tickets for. When we didn’t
see the friends whose tick
ets I had, Adrianna phoned
them to see when they would
be arriving, but discovered
there was a mix-up in the
days. They would not make
it, so I had two extra tickets
that I didn’t need.
So I went to the ticket
line and gave away the extra
ticket. It was nice to perform
a random act of kindness
even though people were
looking at me like I was
crazy.
After the movie, we
drove to the home of the wal
let’s owner. The man, who
had begun cancelling his
credit cards, was very appre
ciative and I was glad to help
out with a second random
act of kindness for the day
because I know what it’s like
to lose a wallet.
The next day I went to
Sandy Springs to help my
mother-in-law. A few days
before, I noticed a soggy,
moldy spot on her ceiling.
There was a leak in bath
room somewhere that was
dripping to the ceiling be
low on the first floor of her
condo.
So I loaded up my tools,
some spare sheetrock and
went to work in her condo. I
determined that the problem
was simply a bad shower-
head. I picked up a new $25
showerhead from a nearby
Home Depot, replaced it and
the bad sheetrock. My moth
er-in-law was grateful. She
was afraid the repair would
cost $2,000 or $3,000 and
said she may have to take out
a loan to fix the problem.
That’s how I brought
in the New Year—with acts
of kindness, random and
planned. And that’s how we
should spend 2016—seeking
ways to be kind to our fellow
man, because at some point
during this year we probably
will need someone to be ex
tra kind to us.
= ONE MAN'S OPINION =
Shake your sheriff's hand
Among many sources of
pride in being Southern is
witnessing the frequent grati
tude, courtesy and respect
paid here to our men and
women in uniform. A recent
run through Hartsfield-
Jackson Airport included a
warm, thoughtful and sincere
taped message of thanks and
greetings to America’s mili
tary from Atlanta’s Mayor
Kasim Reed. And that is as
it should be.
Yet I can also recall from
my childhood, the different
and less welcoming treat
ment given to our returning
Vietnam era veterans. While
those less-than-courteous
recollections are now a bit
hazy for me, they remain
crystal clear for those who
suffered that ill treatment.
Bill Huff, a retired Co
lumbus, Ga. businessman
and decorated Vietnam War
vet, once painted a vivid
portrait for me of his return
stateside following his sec
ond tour of duty. Nearing
his second day of transit on
a military cargo craft and his
last leg home on a domestic
commercial craft to Orlando,
traveling in the same uni
form, he described the family
sharing his row on the flight
turning their backs and not
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
Columnist
recognizing or speaking to
him. Welcome home, soldier.
I am more recently sens
ing some similar ill treat
ment, also not warranted,
gaining a head of steam to
ward another group of men
and women in uniform, our
thousands of law enforce
ment personnel across this
country. Criminal justice
analysts are starting to speak
of a dual-edged “Ferguson
effect” causing police, depu
ties, troopers and correc
tion officers alike to second
guess themselves, at the same
time that angry crowds and
packs of mobile phones are
beginning to swarm even
the most basic arrests and
crime scenes, impeding and
sometimes blocking law en
forcement professionals from
doing their job to serve and
protect.
Since 2010, it has been
reported that in 184 instanc
es in Georgia, police shoot
ings have ended in fatalities,
with a victim either unarmed
or shot in the back. I in no
way belittle or wish to mini
mize those injuries or loss
of life, and rogue cops need
to be identified and weeded
out of the system. However,
among Georgia’s more than
500 law enforcement agen
cies, across that same five-
year span, how many thou
sand criminals were correctly
apprehended, prosecuted and
are now doing time?
Having witnessed more
than a few crime scenes, and
even a couple of mass mur
derers in flight (during my
reporting years), I can clearly
attest that I never witnessed
an assailant or suspect run
ning toward law enforce
ment. In every attempt to
escape or allude capture, they
were running away, with
their backs towards the good
guys. When shots were fired,
typically they were in the di
rection of a fleeing suspect’s
back. Real bad guys prefer
simply to get the hell out of
Dodge. Only in the movies
do the two sides face off, dia
logue and then exchange fire.
In a year’s time the num
ber of Georgia highway fatal
ities will number in the hun
dreds, most due to distracted
driving or impaired driving,
and yet no one is protesting
in the streets to end the use
of smart phones, or to extend
the death penalty for DUI
resulting in vehicular homi
cide.
Entry-level police and
corrections officers as well
as sheriff deputies make
less than Georgia’s school
teachers, whom we almost
universally consider under
paid. The job of a cop or a
deputy comes at all hours,
365 days a year and while the
threat of violence committed
against those in uniform is
multiplying. From a routine
traffic stop to a domestic
dispute gone violent, our
men and women in brown
and blue must at all times
be prepared for situations to
rapidly deteriorate and head
south, forcing life and death
decisions to be made in a
matter of seconds.
Which brings me back
to the good guys. They are
far from perfect, but like
the soldier, they deserve
our thanks. Say hello, sa
lute, wave and smile at your
neighborhood beat cop.
Shake your sheriff’s or area
deputy’s hand and ask what
you can do to help make
your community safer.
Or instead, forget that
blue and brown lives also
matter, presume that a uni
form simply means a better
dressed bully seeking his or
her next opportunity for un
justified brutality, and then
witness the declining pool of
recruits signing up for Police
Academy. When that next
mass shooting, jail break,
armed robbery or burglary
of your own home happens,
who ya gonna call? Ghost
Busters? Saying thank you is
free, and never under-esti
mate the power of a smile.
Bill Crane also serves
as a political analyst and
commentator for Channel
2’s Action News, WSB-AM
News/Talk 750 and now 95.5
FM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, Cham
pion Free Press and Georgia
Trend. Crane is a DeKalb
native and business owner,
living in Scottdale. You can
reach him or comment on
a column at bill.csicrane@
gmail.com.
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