  It's such a beautiful day!! And about damn time, too, considering it's May 11th! Blogger has a new look and I think I like it. Not so much happening in my world today. Amanda came over last night and we started a lively game of Monopoly at about 9 pm that lasted for about 2 1/2 hours. Amanda was kicking my ass & Chris's too! She owned both utilities and all 4 railroads. Chris was the first to erect a hotel and he would have bought more if it hadn't been so late. I think I came out on the short end of the stick with fewer properties, but I did have Boardwalk and Park Avenue in my pocket!! I've read so much these past few days about the Iraqi prison abuse and then I hopped over to urlLink DaGoddess's site. I think she puts into words what I cannot, so please go and read. It's a great post and if there's anything I could gank from her site today, it would be: urlLink Apologies Do Not Weaken Us & Let's Move Forward .
And there's only one more thing I'd like to cover before I sign off today. My friend (and co-worker) got a call from her oldest son, who is about 12 years old. He was upset and crying. She calmed him down and asked him what was wrong. Turns out that some kids tried to jump him when he got off the bus at his block. (The bus drops him off 1 block from his house) This group of kids called out to him and he tried ignoring them. Then one kid came at him and punched him in the neck. Another kid was about to hit him when he took off running. He ran home and called his mom. She was upset - who wouldn't be - and left work early. Her son did the right thing by getting out of the situation quick, but that leaves you to wonder what will happen tomorrow and the next day when he gets off the bus. What about the day after that? It's not like she can be there every day when the bus drops him off nor should she have to baby him.
After all, kids get into fights. It's simply a part of growing up. But when you and your kids live in Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem, the Bronx, New Jersey, etc, you realize that things aren't like they were when you were growing up in a small town in the middle of BFE where people would actually stop and help someone in need. Here, in this metropolis we call New York, people aren't as nice. When someone is in need of help, most people here just walk on by and pretend they didn't see or hear a thing.
No one wants to be held responsible or worse yet, liable for something that might go wrong. That's one of the scariest things about what happened to my friend's kid today. If this group of kids really had tried to hurt her son, would anyone have stopped to help? I'd like to think so, but I somehow doubt it. 
