across the street from my house is a mini-park... just a bit of open ground with a small pavilion thingy and a swingset.
across the street from that park lives a family with a retarded son... he's around 40 years old now and every day, weather permitting, he plays on that swingset.

this morning i woke up and saw the swingset covered in toilet paper... i thought "what a waste of TP... usually you do that kind of thing to a house"
a few hours later i realised that everyone in this little town knows about the retarded man and the park... and that this was most definitely intended to hurt him.

i am so mad. the fact that anyone would waste so much time and effort to TP something is stupid enough... but the insensitivity and the absolute MORONIC BEHAVIOUR of the young population of this town makes me ashamed of my generation.

so, i just spent the last twenty minutes cleaning it all up... the whole time the police officer who lives next door was standing on his driveway chatting with a friend... even after seeing the retarded man walk almost to the end of his driveway and turn back after seeing the park.

this also makes me mad.
the fact that people who REALLY know about this guy and his park just stand by and don't do anything... well, it just makes me mad.

=/

You did the right thing. You're so caring. Good job.

i'm just mad... so i wrote a "letter to the community" to the editor of the local paper.
let's hope it gets printed.

i don't want anyone here to think i'm trying to be "holier than thou" or anything like that... i'm just upset that people can be so insensitive.
my aunt has cerebral paulsey (sp?) and is mentally retarded ("developmentally challenged" to be 'politically correct') so it's an issue close to my heart.

Haha, "holier than thou". I actually think that what you did was nice. But I have to admit you're quite motivated to write a letter to the community. I would be too lazy to do that. :p

lol =P
well, my dad's letters get printed in the editorial section quite often... small town and he's a minister so... yeah. i was inspired by that or something, heh.

normally i'd be too lazy =P

Let us know if it's ever published.

That's good of you to care so much about someone else. It might be a good idea to invite the guy to swing again, just so he knows it's ok to use it again, whatever. He probably thinks people are mad at him for using it, and that you might be mad for having to clean it up. So inviting him to swing on it might put him at ease.

JediKirby

That's a good idea.

Retarded people always made me sad. I feel sorry for them. Poor guy! He's forty and he lives in his parents house. People must have mocked him a lot of times.

Good job, Is_907, I'm proud of you.

yeah he was back playing on it about an hour after i cleaned it up... so as coach z would say "good jorb there!" (=

I highly doubt pity is a good answere to anyone's condition. Understanding and willingness to assist is probably a much better way to approach anyone who is usually pitied. Take it from someone who's usually at the receiving end. People's pity is no better than their scorn.

JediKirby

That doesn't mean I tell them I pity them...
I just feel it. I'm understanding to them of course.

pity is the emotion we act on to assist those who need.

That's the nicest thing I've heard anyone do in a while...Good job, man!

That letter will definitely get published. Scan it when you see it in the paper and post it here!

I was always friends with the mentally handicapped kids at school.

I'm dyslexic, and I know how much the torment can get to you..

I've gotten into fights because of how much they get picked on.

But, I'd rather get my *** kicked, than have them be tormented.

amen to that, Rob.

a lady at work has an autistic son... he's the coolest guy ever and his older brother takes care of him while their mom is at work (the autistic one is 17 and his brother is 18) and i get that vibe from him, too. it's awesome to see that kind of stuff.

This is one of the reasons why I like Massassi. A good number of people here, regardless of backgrounds and beliefs, seem to have a genuine, kind-hearted nature in them. It's nice to see this sort of thing, and I feel provileged to read such an account. I myself have Asperger's Syndrome (a high-functioning form of Autism), and while I am in no ways retarded, I have many emotional disabilities which give people excuse to ridicule me and exploit my weaknesses. This kind of empathy and sincere regard for the feelings and conditions of another should be merited and applauded - it's not always easy, but a loving solution is always more rewarding than tearing someone down for who they are not.

Feel proud of your actions.

Good job man, keep it up and post about anything that might be published

Oh man. Good job. Those ****ers!

You deserve a cookie.


No... TWO cookies!

Gasp!

Its a shocking truth, but he does.

Good joerghb!

That is awesome, man, good job.



/me hands Is_907 THREE cookies.

Good work there.

Time for some Burrieness

/me gives Is_907 a bear

Not me.

Everyone knew that.

Good job man. Good to see there are still caring people around.

Well done, Is_907. It's nice to know thre are still some genuinely good people out there.

Ey Up! Nice work chaps.

*cookies for all*

Good job let us know if anything gets published. I would love to read it.

I completly agree with your post, I'm glad to see people who put the time and effort to do things like this. Like Daft I too have Asperger's(i even met another college student who has it a little worse than me and were good friends). If the letter doesn't happen to make it into the paper, can you at least post it here.

I too have an "emotional challenge" where if someone catches me in the wrong mode my temper can fly off the handle. I was often ridiculed in school because of this.

Anyway, that's more information than I would usually give, but this reminds me of an incident at school where a few punks decided to harrass students that had a learning disability (LD), well, having classrooms near the LD students, me the rest of emotionally challenged students decided to lose our tempers, hold down the bullies, and take turns wailing on them.

We soon discovered that the answer to violence is not violence when we got detention for a week

The moral of my story is that I agree with you. Those who would bully those who have a learning disability should be dealt with as if they were bullying a 4-yr old child, as in many cases, a 40-yr old LD has the mental capacity and state of mind of a 4-yr old.

Most likely it was some 14-yr old punk(s) who just got done sniffing paint in the tube-slide and thought it would be funny to pick on someone who has no defense.