Posted on 03/19/2012 7:11:29 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
A Manhattan charity worker who was nearly killed by a shopping cart pushed over a garage railing by teenage punks in October spoke publicly for the first time today -- expressing compassion for the pranksters who dropped the cart on her head.
Marion Hedges, during a walk outside her Upper East Side apartment, said she hasn’t received an apology from the evil-doers.
“I haven’t heard from them, but I wish them well,” Hedges said. “I do, because I feel very sorry for them.”
“I don’t know that my son would do something like that or that his friends would do something like that. But there were a lot of things in their lives to bring them to that. A shopping mall is not a place for kids to hang out.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Stockholm Syndrome.
Of various responses to one’s attackers, I think hers is probably among the best for continued sanity and happiness (assuming she isn’t in shock-denial). Bitterness is a lousy way to deal with life’s unfairness.
Bless you, Mrs. Hedges.
That had to be one of those news/semi-satire reports.
They need their a$$ kicked.
You are correct. Carrying around anger will only hurt herself.
Bless you.
Of course you haven’t heard from them. They do NOT care about you at all. You are NOTHING to them.
Always thought that was pretty deep; Pastor Max is a pretty good pastor.
I like that.
Some anger keeps you sharp and ready for any trouble that comes your way. WHile the victim couldn’t have anticipated the assault from above, a little paranoia and anger can save your life because it makes you aware of your environment.
Most crime victims don’t pay attention to their environment when they go for a walk, to work, running, etc. That is why they are easy targets.
Anger can be general, as well as aimed at a specific target, group, etc. You just need to know how to control it and harness it in an emergency.
I chased a drug dealer for 6 months, and with the help of a very good Fairfax County, Va. detective and a couple of kids, we nailed him and got him sent to jail.
Nobody threatens my family and gets away with it. The kid is still changing his underwear because he knows what I’ll do to him if he every shows up in our neighborhood again.
Besides, my K-9 needs a new toy to play with.
I heard it put this way recently: Resentment is taking a bad thing someone did against you and using it against yourself.
I have a friend who was knocked over in an airport staircase by some idiots who loaded a cart up with luggage and tried to take in down a stairway. She was hit by the suitcases as they fell out of the cart. The idiots never even stopped to check if she was okay. I’ll have to ask her if she is ready to forgive them - after multiple surgeries.
I have a friend who was knocked over in an airport staircase by some idiots who loaded a cart up with luggage and tried to take in down a stairway. She was hit by the suitcases as they fell out of the cart. The idiots never even stopped to check if she was okay. I’ll have to ask her if she is ready to forgive them - after multiple surgeries.
I agree we must not have blind-faith in all of humanity either. I think what you described is a proper sense of vigilance, and justice. Those are clear-headed. Anger (and self-pity) is blinding.
You can be my next door neighbor anytime. I salute you.
Forgiveness does not preclude justice. In other words, the court system should deal with the guilty.
But when you are a victim of a crime, if you walk around in resentment of the perp, he has planted that poison in your heart and being. He does not deserve that spot within the victim and resentment is not hurting the offender, it is hurting the victim. Pursuing justice and forgiving are not the same thing.
bump!
“Nothing consumes a man more completely than a passion for resentment’’.— Neitzche
I’m angry that we have allowed punks and gangs to wander at will for so long. Liberals made all kinds of excuses for their existence and behavior, but none of them suffered at their hands because they lived in fancy neighborhoods and never walked anywhere.
We, the working people, are the main targets of the criminals because we are out there walking down the block, to work, or the bus/subway, or to the local store.
Our kids are exposed to gangs and drugs because the police never admitted that either existed for years. My daughter and niece once gave me the names of 18-27 Hispanic/black gangs that existed in our area, while the police had just told me at a community meeting that there were only 5-7, and not all were dangerous. I sent them the rest of the names their intelligence unit missed.
I’m tired of drunk drivers hitting my family’s cars, and those of my neighbors (18 times in 3 years). We finally got the police off their asses, provided them with license plate numbers, home addresses, etc. and cleaned up our neighborhood, including wiping out a little drug operation.
The fact that my son is a federal police officer, and is very striking in his uniform, with K9, sent out a message to newcomers that you don’t cause trouble in our neighborhood or you could get shot or arrested, or bitten, then shot, and then arrested. You just can’t image how quiet it has been during the past few years. I wonder why.
I don’t mind rehabilitation, but in some cases, as in the situation of this poor woman who was struck by the shopping cart, her life has been severely damaged if not wrecked. My anger is directed at the bastard who did it. He needs to pay, if only as an example to the next jerk who might think it is funny to drop a cart on someone’s head.
In fact, someone was driving in nearby Maryland and kids threw a hugh stone thru their car window, nearly killing the person, and crippling them for life. The victim didn’t deserve that. That is why I’m angry. It could have been me, or my family. I can’t reserve my anger just for my family and friends. A stranger deserves the right to life just as much as anyone else.
Remember, an injury to one is an injury to all. We must get collectively angry if we are to have anything done. Nice platitudes and psychobabble don’t mean shit out in the real world. We are our brother’s keepers and that means protecting one and all from the barbarians.
Anger, leading to real justice, is the one thing that can unite us as a people. I agree that blind anger is not good, but directed anger helps to make our world a safer place. After 9/11, Americans finally got angry and got justice after ignoring the atrocities of the Khobar Towers, World Trade Center One, USS Cole, etc. No one wanted to point a finger, name a culprit, do justice to our dead and wounded and maimed.
I prefer to be a little angry because I was raised to be angry at injustice and crime. And I do something about it.
Call me angry, call me mean-spirited, call me anything you want to, but in the end, I bring the bastards down.
Two drunks went to jail last night when I helped the manager of a local drugstore locate and identify to the police these guys who had threatened her for not selling them beer at night. If the one who had threatened the manager, a woman, had made a move, I would probably be in the hospital today getting his teeth out of my fist.
MadMax, who really isn’t so mad, but just perpetually pissed off.
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