I hate to have two “downer” posts in a row, but I just can’t help myself. People suck. Bad. I don’t even know why I bother reading the news anymore as it just reminds me how broken this world really is. Here’s the latest reason (via a CNN article) I’ve lost hope for humanity…
Janitor finds mentally disabled people locked in basement; 3 arrested.
Three people have been arrested and accused of holding the disabled people captive and stealing their Social Security checks.
…
Authorities believe the four were trapped in the tiny room for up to a week. Ray Evers said they suffered from bed sores and “injuries that are very, very hard to describe.”
Seriously? How messed up do you have to be to kidnap, torture, and steal from a mentally disabled person?
Yesterday an Indy Car driver died while racing, and while that story is sad enough, it’s not as sad as the horrible jokes people made about his death in a YouTube comments thread.
Last week eight people were killed in a Salon in California.
We could even take this depressing news and relate it to personal finance. Big banks are trying to nickel and dime us, Ponzi Schemes are as popular as Justin Bieber’s hair, and a Chase staff member had a customer arrested for trying to cash a legitimate check. Check out the horrific details of that last story….
Njoku was taken to jail on June 24, 2010, which was a Thursday. The next day, Chase Special Investigations, realized it was a mistake. The check was legitimate. The Investigator called Auburn Police and left a message with the detective handling the case, but it was her day off. So Njoku stayed in jail for the entire weekend. Finally, on Monday, he was released.
[Meanwhile]
Njoku’s car had been towed from the bank parking lot and his check seized as evidence. “I had to wait a couple of weeks [for the check]” he said, “and my car got sold/auctioned off.”
Njoku says he didn’t have the money to pay the impound fees and fines to get his car back before it was sold. He said he also lost his job because he couldn’t show up for work while he was in jail.
Can someone give me some happy news (hopefully personal) that will restore my faith in humanity?
Hey that’s my job! I’m the downer, Ninja! 🙂
On a personal note, while not perfect, I try to lead an ethical and moral life. Although, I do feel like I finish last being the goody two shoes person :/
I can’t believe people would joke about Dan Wheldon. He was a kind, polite, and modest human being. My son saw him at the Indy 500 practice and got his autograph on a hat. It is so tragic and sad that he has passed. My condolences to his family.
There are a lot of helplessly bitter people in the world who could care less about doing the right thing these days. The lack of accountability and personal responsibility is reprehensible.
My advice is to build a bigger moat.
Happy news – I started a blog (Don’t mind my self-promoting) —
The blog talks about saving money through things like getting the most cash back, the debate of owning vs renting, Iphones, and everything else under the sun.
Ron Paul is laying out a plan to balance the federal budget within three years and cut $1 trillion in federal spending.
Part of his plan includes reducing the President’s salary to the median salary of all Americans, or $39,335. When’s the last time a politician ran on the platform of reducing his own salary?
Sarah Palin isn’t running for President.
Haha! I think no matter what your political stripe is, that’s just good news for humanity!
Japan’s Kohei Uchimura took his third consecutive World All Around title, “further solidifying the belief that he may just be the best gymnast to ever live.”
A woman in Philadelphia stands up against crime and is recognized by the PD:
http://articles.philly.com/2011-10-14/news/30279562_1_police-officers-charlotte-williams-federal-agents
A couple in Canada wins 11 million dollars and gives most of it away:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/nicest-canadian-couple-world-dole-lottery-winnings.html
Martin Luther King’s contributions to civil rights in our nation are commemorated with a memorial on the national mall:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/rev-martin-luther-king-jr-memorial-dedicated-14752214
And in personal news, I’m doing really well in my Fantasy Football league, which is particularly important because I’m playing against my boy cousins.
Chin up, Ninja. We’ve all got lots to be thankful for.
This weekend, after raking tha backyard, I discovered that our puppy loves to play in huge piles of leaves. It’s hilarious.
This weekend I visited a place where their goal is to take care of the less fortunate. In one house, they provide a home and care for babies whose mothers are in prison. This place takes excellent care of the babies, transports them to the jail once a week to visit with the mothers (without fail) and even gives the mothers a huge amount of things to take care of the baby once they get out of jail. (Blankets, outfits, diapers, formula, bottles, etc.)
In another house, they care for mentally handicapped children, teens and adults. The stories there are touching and heart wrenching, but knowing that there are people in this world doing good is a great thing. It changed my life visiting this place this weekend.
Kasey Keller kicked @ss this past weekend making for a great game and saved our bacon!
Yes he did.
Good news and joyful moments far outweigh negative moments in our everyday lives. We just don’t tend to do enough to recognize or celebrate them. Also, because we are able to get news from all over so easily now, it feels like we are getting overwhelmed by negative news that has absolutely no actual effect on our daily lives.
Give GN a big hug and remember all the good things you are putting out into the world through your volunteer work and this blog.
This weekend, my wife and I took our boy to a pumpkin patch (free admission, what what!). They had a ton of rides, slides, and activities, but they all required purchasing at least three tickets for $1 a piece. My wife and I, on a very strict budget now, decided against buying any on the grounds that our son is too young to truly enjoy the rides anyway. Well, we were walking him around playing with the pumpkins when a young couple with two kids asked us to take their picture for them. My wife did, and in response, they gave us two of their tickets and let us know it was enough to get my boy into the petting zoo. We were floored. I know it was only $2 worth of tickets, but it made my son’s day to run around petting chickens, ducks, rabbits and goats! He thought it was awesome. On a side note: when we were in there, this little 3 year old boy was holding and petting a bunny, brought it over to my boy, and said “do you want to hold him?” See, Ninja, the world’s not all bad.
What a sweet story Jered; your son must’ve been so happy, especially when the little boy brought the bunny over and offered it to your son to hold 🙂 My husband and I like going to an arcade in Clifton Hill when we’re in Niagara Falls, ON (about 4 times/year) and we play all these games that give tickets to redeem for trinkets and toys. We don’t have any kids, so we gather as many tickets as possible, and give them to the parent(s) of a small child to boost their ticket bounty. In our eyes, it’s such a small gesture, but you wouldn’t believe the number of kids we’ve made smile, and the parents are floored that someone’s done something nice for their child.
I got new socks!
LOL Emily!! And I needed that laugh after the say I’ve had!
I found this update on Njoku’s story, dated July 2011 (the incident took place in June 2010):
UPDATE: Representatives for both Chase Bank and Ikenna Njoku’s law firm Peterson Young Putra now confirm to Seattle Weekly that a settlement has been reached between Chase and Njoku for an undisclosed amount of money. “The case has been amicably resolved and we are happy,” says Eva Cole, a representative for Peterson Young Putra, refusing to elaborate.Chase also says that the bank has “already changed its procedures in branches to avoid situations like this.” The bank refused to say what those changes are.
On a personal note, my biopsy came back negative, my sister is on her 6th year as a cancer survivor, and it’s fun to see all the pink stuff at sporting events this month!!
We’ve been giving our kitchen a facelift… painted it last week while I was on vacation… I STILL have the paint in my hair, but it looks like fabulous highlights! Saved me a bunch of loonies by not having them done at the salon 😉
Oregon Ducks won on Saturday 🙂
The falcons won and I was there to see it as it was my first time to Atlanta. And Freddie the Falcon took pics with my kid!
http://www.myjourneytomillions.com/articles/my-trip-atlanta/
Here is happy and unusual news! I just had my cable guy out to fix something and he was helpful and nice!
I lost weight last week! 🙂
Oh, thought of another one! The contractor that was coming to install our new kitchen counter and sink last week showed up early to remove the old counter and faucet, and when I was told the new counter would arrive between noon-2PM, it arrived at 11;45AM, ready and waiting when the contractor came back from his 45 min. lunch!
Good news … Ninja has gotten dozens of people thinking about good things happening in the world, ranging from big (Canadians donate $11 million) to small (the joy of new socks). In other words, Ninja, your request that we list good things is ITSELF a good thing!
This is good: http://www.pigs.org/article.asp?article_id=70
That’s some serious info you got there thanks.
I usually go through these funks when I hear about severe animal abuse (cats set on fire, dogs thrown off bridges) but those examples definitely fit the bill, too. The string of 20 sexual assaults in my area of Brooklyn have certainly helped but somehow I feel less powerless over them because I’m working with a community group re the neighborhood situation.
I always have to remind myself that there are many many more decent, ethical and caring people who exist and hold up our social fabric every day than there are bad people. We are winning and we are usually always winning.
Anyway, what usually gets me out of that funk is taking action to affect positive change for someone else -whether it’s volunteering or whatevs.
Hope you’re feeling better today!
My son slept until 7:30 this morning instead of getting up at 5:30 like he’s been doing. Sweet, sweet sleep!