Well That's Weird!

Have you seen the bumper sticker that says "Keep Portland Weird". I don't know what that means exactly but let me tell you about what happened to me on Friday, September 25, 2009.

I showed up to work as normal and the day went just as expected till break time. That would have been about 10:00 am or perhaps a bit after that. Anyway,I had just decided to go on break and had let my helper go for a bit and all of a sudden the fire alarm went off. I thought, "Great timing!", but decided to follow normal procedure and head out into the parking lot and find the place where I am supposed to show up in a fire drill. Suddenly, something happened which was totally unexpected. (You might say it was weird!) The supervisors who would normally have been out in the parking lot with us came to the doors of the building and indicated that it was imperative that we immediately re-enter the building and go to the break room which is located in the center of the building. Hmmm, interesting! Apparently, someone was breaking the windows at the front of the building and the safe place to be was somewhere in the middle of the building away from all exits and windows. Whatever! I complied with their wishes and went to the break room. After what seemed like an eternity, the alarm quit sounding and we were allowed to exit the break room. I, along with a couple of other curious parties, decided to investigate. We had heard that someone had broken a bunch of windows via a baseball bat or throwing rocks. To tell you the truth, I still haven't heard what he actually used but nevertheless, the windows were broken, people were frightened, and work was halted for perhaps a half hour or maybe even more.

When the "all clear" was sounded, I went to the front of the building to get a first hand view of what had actually gone on. What I saw was approximately, eight broken panes of 1/4 inch plate glass, a police cruiser with an aledged perpretrator inside, and cops and Providence security officers, and various other Providence employees milling around and checking out the damage.

Aparently, the perp was someone with whom the authorities were familiar. Astonishingly, he chose to hang around and wait for the cops to show up and arrest him. That sounds pretty weird to me. You know what? I don't like the idea of keeping Portland weird. Let's just put all of the weirdos in jail or dispatch them some other way and let Portland remain normal. I don't think I like weird. I heard that the quote to replace the glass was several thousand dollars. Some knucklehead like I saw in the squad car is not likely to have anywhere near that kind of money.

Once again, the victim is the one who will bear the brunt of the cost of the crime that was perpretrated against them. No matter how one reviews this event, the victim is the party carrying the greater liability.

I don't know if Providence Health Systems is rich or not. I doesn't really matter. The victim should never be the recipient of the greater portion of penalty. A perpretator who can not pay for his crime should be required to pay in sweat. Let him work it off!

Ok, let me cool down a bit. Society is never going to require retribution. I guess that is why this society is failing. Perhaps when the last victim falls and all that is left is perpretrators, we will finally get the picture. Unfortunely, by that time, it will be too late to get the appropriate measures accomplished.