The title of this article is a saying that is considered an old oriental (Chinese, I believe?) curse. But it's SO appropriate to this day and age.

Angloesque wrote an article about a lady who sued two girls who were bringing her cookies. I won't rehash it here, as anglo's original article is a good article and I think you would be well advised to read it (It's entitled "This is What's Wrong with Americans", or something similar).

What got my goat is one of the responses, justifying the actions of the plaintiff, saying essentially that these times are dangerous and we can't trust anyone.

How sad a statement is that?

It's enough to call for a rewrite of the parable of the Good Samaritan in which the first man passes by the traveller out of fear of getting sued, and the second man goes by, sure that the wounded traveller is a terrorist.

We cannot, nay, we MUST not allow our paranoid fears to trump our need to respond to our fellowman (or woman) with compassion; to do so will effectively remove all that makes us human (and, I might add, will place us even lower than a number of "lower" animals capable of compassion we cannot seem to muster). By distrusting the motives of everyone around us, we have created an isolated, insulated world in which virtually nobody in large cities knows their neighbor, and, as a result, crime runs rampant.

It's time for a change. Whether you are liberal or conservative or somewhere else on the political spectrum, regardless of your race or gender or intellectual capacity, regardless of religion, we CAN overcome our silly fears and work together to restore the sense of "community" among us. If we keep suing people over random acts of kindness, I fear what society may evolve.

Respectfully submitted,

Gideon MacLeish