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Engage, Embrace, Empower
My next to last rant.
So my last rant about having my car broken into has stirred up a couple memories.
Some people think I'm nuts for associating with some of the people in the neighborhood. When you run with pigs, you smell like them... maybe. Here are a few of my experiences with people in the neighborhood.
A couple weeks ago I was walking my dog north down camp. About 7 girls ages 6-20's were on a porch showering cars with rocks as they drove by. I watched for a moment before speaking up. Next thing I know, I was getting pegged with rocks. I walk around the corner and there was a cop car pulling up Cypress. I tell him what happened, he drives to the front of the house where a victim and their car was stopped, the girls ran inside. Cop gets out and essentially tells the people that there is nothing he can do about it. The people were pissed off. People leave, cop leaves.
I will not let this happen. I go to the front door, knock and slowly the kids come out one by one, youngest to oldest. Initially there was tension and harsh words exchanged. The oldest of the girls speaks up and says 'listen to what he has to say. Have some respect'. I quickly divert the conversation to my dog and to my electric scooters. As soon as they find out I'm the scooter guy things change. Now I have friends and they love the tricks my dog knows.
The same cop happens to walk by and one of the girls points at me and says 'He threatened to kill us'. Cop looks at me, keeps walking. The girl and I went back and forth for a moment, but I backed off. By the end of the night almost all of the girls had apologized. I gave them my phone number in return.
The next day I got a phone call from a mousy little voice. 'Can we try your scooters'. My response 'only if you wear a helmet'. Three of the girls meet me on camp I show them how to use it and put helmets on. The one girl whom I 'threatened to kill' was there and I asked for an apology before letting her ride. I wasn't getting one but I let her ride anyway. They took several trips around the block without any problems. I took the bikes back and to my delightful surprise the one girl says 'I'm really sorry for saying that you were going to kill us'. And then she runs away.
What did I accomplish? Not a whole heck of a lot but now this house of girls know my name and my dogs name. They know who I am and that I care about what's going on. They respect me. If they're throwing rocks and I walk down the street, they will stop. They will not throw rocks at me. I hope that they will now think twice about their actions. Yelling at them, scolding them, telling on them, only fuels their delinquency. THEY NEED TO BE EMBRACED. Get out of your homes. If you see things like this approach it with tact, not malice. Rationalize. Make them feel bad. Make them feel accountable. Do not yell and fight. It accomplishes nothing. Offer them something. I offered my scooters and my dog. Now they like to play with her in the park. They are a part of my life and I am a part of theirs now.
Kocking on that door could have been the wrong decision if someone with a weapon came out. Fortunately it was not the case. I will not live in fear, I will not hide, I will not stop. We can all solve problems that the police cannot.
Any thoughts?
Kev Kaz
Posted at August 1, 2005 07:15 PM