I am a terrible person: I just laughed at the misfortune of someone else.
Actually, I was laughing about the way that person came about her misfortune, and somewhat in approval about the person who brought it to her.
What disaster befell her? Well, she was sitting in a Honolulu bus stop Wednesday morning. A man approached on a bicycle.
He tried to snatch a carton of cigarettes from her hand. She held on, but he overpowered her and snatched it away. That caused her to fall on his bicycle and hurt her knees.
Now, given the way he robbed her--and the fact that he is 25 and she is 62--the police had reason to arrest him. But he wasn't charged with assault or any other kind of crime against a person. Instead, he was arrested on "suspicion of second-degree robbery."
Of course he was wrong to use force in an attempt to rob that woman. I can't help but to wonder, though, whether things would have been different had he destroyed those cigarettes. I mean, a cyclist taking away someone's cigarettes: If that doesn't sound like someone promoting public health, I don't know what does.
Seriously, though, I hope that woman recovers--and doesn't smoke!
Actually, I was laughing about the way that person came about her misfortune, and somewhat in approval about the person who brought it to her.
What disaster befell her? Well, she was sitting in a Honolulu bus stop Wednesday morning. A man approached on a bicycle.
He tried to snatch a carton of cigarettes from her hand. She held on, but he overpowered her and snatched it away. That caused her to fall on his bicycle and hurt her knees.
Now, given the way he robbed her--and the fact that he is 25 and she is 62--the police had reason to arrest him. But he wasn't charged with assault or any other kind of crime against a person. Instead, he was arrested on "suspicion of second-degree robbery."
Of course he was wrong to use force in an attempt to rob that woman. I can't help but to wonder, though, whether things would have been different had he destroyed those cigarettes. I mean, a cyclist taking away someone's cigarettes: If that doesn't sound like someone promoting public health, I don't know what does.
Seriously, though, I hope that woman recovers--and doesn't smoke!
OTOH, is the public better off with a 25 year-old smoking compared to someone that is 62 and has probably been smoking for 50 years? Either way, since she's 62 instead of 65, it won't contribute to an earlier bankruptcy for Medicare...
ReplyDeleteSteve--I didn't think about whether the 25 year old might be smoking. Perhaps he is. For some reason, I assumed that he stole that woman's cigarettes to sell them.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the bankruptcy of Medicare, though.