Save Edna Jester

So I was checking my AOL mail and I often get distracted by the headlines and click them, especially funny sounding ones. Well I came across this gem and decided to share it with those of you paying attention to the less important news, such as the train wreck upcoming election (that is as political as I plan to get on this blog). Basically it is about an 89 year old woman who was arrested and is being charged with petty theft because some kid(s) threw a football in her yard and she was holding onto it to teach them a lesson.

The neighborhood is divided on this issue, according to the video this has been an ongoing issue with her and the neighborhood kids/families (or at least the one). To me I think the fact that she has made it clear she is annoyed with the kids having their balls go into her yard and got to the point of keeping them for however long to reinforce this that the parents' of these children should use it as an opportunity to teach their children about respecting their elders/neighbors, hell they should have already taught them. Is she being harsh, perhaps, but at the same time I would be very frustrated myself if someone was being disrespectful of me and my property (something I had to deal with in the lab yesterday) and if it was a kid that their parents did not teach them manners. According to the youtube video I found the "kid" is a teenager who got a job and bought it with his own money. I'm sorry but if a kid is old enough to have a job they should be old enough to know better than to mess with their elderly neighbor and perhaps old enough to go to the nearest park to play if their yard is too small.

Perhaps it is the way I was raised, I was expected to be polite and respectful of my elders. When we went somewhere I was expected to follow the rules of that place, even if it was something that was otherwise considered fine behavior for home. I plan to raise my potential offspring in the same way. If I knew my neighbor was bothered by something I or my kids did then I would try to talk it out with them to come up with a solution/compromise. Is it Edna's place to try and teach a little respect to the urchins next door, not really, but at the same time what are her other options if the parents don't do their job? Perhaps it is a silly issue to make such a big fuss over but at the same time it does bring up valid points, and really what means something to one person may mean something else to another.

Perhaps I am relating to Edna and reading too much into the issue given my issues with one of my coworkers (Prof Wannabe for those keeping track). But that is for another post.


FYI: I am working a lot right now and it is significantly limiting my blog writing and reading. I have set myself on a schedule that does not involve days off, it is not as bad as it sounds, some days I have very little to do so it is practically a day off, but there is always something that needs doing that totally gets in the way of blogging. Plus I didn't want to post and have my contest get burried (check it out, post below this, contest deadline has been extended to the 31st). Hopefully I can catch up at some point, miss you guys!