Friday, January 7, 2011

How Many Have Ignored This As Well?

I spend a lot of time online. I have no choice because I am always searching. Sometimes, things just appear that catch my attention. The following is a letter that was posted online that I received permission from the author to share with you. When I read this letter I actually smiled, and I am sure most of you won't. But after you read the letter, I will explain why I am smiling.


When I was a young man, (Well around the age of 8 years,) I remember one summer afternoon, I was playing with my Tonka trucks on the front yard with one of my friends. Then, out of nowhere, a town police cruiser pulled over a middle-aged man driving a big blue car. The sirens & bubbles really caught our attention because we spent most of our childhood watching the show COPS on television. We walked over to the very end of the yard where we weren't allowed to go any further, to watch the interesting situation. 


The police officer walked to the drivers side door of the big blue car, and started asking the man questions, I couldn't quite hear what they were discussing due to the loudness of the busy street, but we had a front-row seat to see what was happening. After a few minutes, the policeman opened the door and was telling the man to step out of the car, the man did not hesitate, and it looked like he was very cooperative. Standing on the side of the road, the man seemed very embarrassed. As the police officer searched through his car, he noticed the two of us watching what was happening and nicely waved to us with a big smile on his face. As kids, we were told to never talk or communicate with strangers, so we just starred at him blankly. 


We changed our attention over to the police officer again, who was looking through the trunk. All of a sudden, the police officer gets out his weapon and points it at the man, immediately the man raised his hands in the air and knelt down on the pavement. The police officer walked up to him (still had his pistol pointed at him) & handcuffed the man, and made him lay on his stomach. The officer walked to his car, and started talking on the radio. After five minutes, two other police cars were on the scene. The officer who pulled the man over, showed the other policemen what was in the trunk. 


By this time, the traffic had calmed down & we could hear what they were saying. One of the officers, pulled out a big bag of marijuana from the trunk, I didn't know how much there was in the bag then, but now with a little experience I'm positive that he had about a half pound. The officer put the bag on the hood of the man's car & lifted him off of the pavement, they stood him in front of the car and asked him "Sir, what are you doing with this?" He replied "It's my wife's medicine." 


The officers, after they shared some words, they started pulling him to the police car, I remember the look on his face as he shouted "You can't take her medicine! She needs it! Don't take her medicine!" They tossed him in the back of the cruiser like he was a murderer, the officer slammed the door closed & drove away. As the car drove a few feet in front of us, the man looked at us, with tears in his eyes. The other officers took the bag with them, and left. Later on, a tow truck picked up his car and that was it. 


  I'll never forget that experience, the man was kind and respectful but the police treated him like dirt. They took his wife's medicine, which the couple worked hard for & the police just threw it away, leaving the husband with a jail sentence & the wife with pain & sadness. 


This needs to end.



-Adam J. Carpenter, New Brunswick.





***Adam is a high school student from New Brunswick, Canada.

Sadly this is a tragic story all way round. An 8 year old child witnesses a man humiliated and treated like a dangerous criminal. The man was not guilty of any crime, unless trying to save a loved one has become against the law. And many of you are probably not smiling after reading a story like that.

Now, I will explain why I am smiling. This was written by a high school student. He saw this atrocity with his own eyes and it affected him.  Whether he knew it at the time, he now realizes that he never should have seen anything like this. At his young age he actually understands. He's brave enough to come forward. Now imagine how many have also seen or known of these atrocities yet continue to ignore them,

So of course I'm smiling, he's our future. We may still have a chance.

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