People mus’ realise dat this kindness ting ain’t worth it

Barbados Advocate
October 17, 2003

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I READ a letter to the editor in the papers a couple weeks ago from a woman who claimed that in her kindness she give a woman (a total stranger) and her child a drop in her car to Sheraton Centre. The long and short of the story is that when the stranger get out and this woman finally drove home, sometime later she discovered that all her money from her purse was missing.

It turned out that the lady had left her purse in the back seat of her car, so while she thought she was doing this stranger a favour by giving her a ride, the stranger was using the opportunity to rob her.

That is one. Two; a man tell me he was driving home from work and he see this school boy like he wandering, so he stop and ask the boy why he don’t make haste and get off the road and know that it was getting late. The boy turn and tell him that he spend the bus fare so he was walking home.

Further investigations revealed that the boy lived not too far from him. So he offered the boy some bus fare and then offered to put him close to home. Well so said so done.

When the man get home he realised that his cell phone was missing from in his car. He called the phone number and a man answered it. He find out where the man was and went to see him. The man explained that this school boy only minutes ago pass by and tell he that he find this cell phone and sold it to him. Well the man thanked him and give him a recovery fee, vowing never again to put anybody in his car.

That is two; three; I also heard a story of a man who picked up two school girls bumming a lift at a bus stop heading to the stadium for school sports. The girls appeared to be quite friendly in their chat, finding out the man’s name, where he worked etc. When they approached the stadium they asked him for a hundred dollars. He asked them for what.

They told him that unless he didn’t want the police coming by his work place questioning him about the two young schoolgirls that he picked up at the bus stop and interfere with then he would pay up. And how them know how to scratch up them self and cry bad.

Well from what I understand the man understood the predicament he was in, cause he realise that if he ignored their request and just ask them to get out, they might create a scene and people outside looking on might believe that he did try to assault the young ladies, so he start thinking fast.

The man say when he get by Lumber Company he make a right turn to go round by the stadium and he told the young ladies that he didn’t want the police coming by his work place so he was taking them to the police at the gate. And how his “friends” Inspector some name he make up, and Sergeant some other name he make up, was working at the VIP gate and he carrying them straight to his friends, cause all two of them want locking up.

Well the girls get frighten and tell the man that them was only making sport, so he play he studying for a while and then tell them he would give them a break this time. Anyhow he let them off by the VIP gate, then he get out of his car and went and talk to a police by the gate. All the time he watching the two girls and the two of them looking back at he, but them walking fast trying to disappear into the crowd.

Now all of them situations is some serious things that could have ended even worse. My whole thing on being a good Samaritan and giving people rides is this. Why would you as a stranger want to get in another stranger’s car? And why would you as a driver want to pick up a total stranger?

The most that could happen is that you save somebody a bus fare, get them out of the sun or the rain, or get them to their destination a few minutes earlier. But when you weigh that against you being, robbed or shot or raped or buggered or killed or robbed shot raped buggered and killed, then you realise that sometimes it is better to see a stranger at the bus stop and leave them there in the hot sun or the pouring rain.

It might sound selfish, but that is the way that things are. Peter must pay for Paul and Paul pay for all. See ya