People on edge of rage all over.

[Alice Torn]

In this awful small town 74 miles east of Chicago, it seems there is a cop car every four blocks or so. I was the victim of roadrage riding my bicycle a month ago. Then today, i found the ffloor of my car drciers side, has almost rusted through. Broke until tomorrow, i rode my bicycle around town looking for a piece of heavy plastic, or aluminum, to jury rig it. Alas, , at a place where i found a lot of aluminum cans, there was a large piece of old, bent up muddy aluminun siding, so i rode home, got gloves, and tin snips, to go cut out the size piece i needed. About half way through cutting, i hears a guy yelling and screaming his head off, about 60 yards away, that i was stealing, and got get my a-s out of there, or he's calling cops. I yelled back that my car floorboard was gone, and i needed it. He just got meaner, and angrier, so, i got on my bike and yelled back, "Have a nice day!" God bless you! Maybe we could be friends! You would think i tried to rape his girlfriend or mom!! The rage! That is one reason i do not go out dressed around here more than Holloween. Mean redneck young men , and cops are not very nice here, either. In fact, almost everyone in this lousy miserable town is unfriendly, and mean. I heard George Norri, on Coast to Coast, say, that people seem very on edge today. Zombies! Almost no compassion on the poor here. It is a well off little area, and not much concern about a poor person salvaging a piece of junk. What would the merciless hothead have done, if i had been dressed doing that! Pitchforks?

Mistake. The town is west, not east of Chicago.

[Jaymees22]

Wow it does sound like an awful place. I've never got chased for gathering my roadside finds, but one town near where I used to live the police would chase you on clean up day. I thought that was stupid, all we're doing is recycling without the middle man. Recently my neighbor put a kayak out for junk, when a lady came by to check it over I agreed to hold it for her until she could get back with a bigger car. In fact the chair I'm sitting in was dumped on the curb in front of our house, I cleaned it up and brought it in. Maybe people in NJ are more tolerant or know what it's like to be broke. Good luck with your car. Hugs Jaymee

[Kate Simmons]

I feel bad for you Alice. If I still owned my home I would let you stay here but it got too much for me so I sold it to my Son a few years back. Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing my friend.:)

[Alice Torn]

Jaymee, Sad to say, i seem ore intolerance, and cruelty to the poor, who are in need of junk, to survive these days. I also hear that poor people won;t be allowed to park and sleep in their cars, in L.A., and more places. Where the hell are the unfortunate, and poor going to go! They cannot all live in shelters! I don;t like the emerging crack down.

Kate, I would take you up on that,if the house was still available! This is a bigger biker haven too, like a small Sturgis. A hard town. Not much mercy and kindness, toward the poor. I hope that guy that called me a thief, and condemned me, meets hid WATERLOO SOON! Cruelty to the poor and struggling is not good Karma, and The Higher Power doe not take that lightly. That cruel guy will fall into a situation, where what went around, comes around on him. I hope he will be humbled by it, and remember the cruelty to me, and be sorry. I am sure we will be seeing each other around this small town again, often, as i ride often . If he comes after me again, i may just call the cops on him, try to avoid violence. But not back down if he starts it.

Thanks Kate. I see the hardening of human hearts all over, toward their fellow beings, and the rage, as a sign this program is nearing its end. We seem like the experiment where large numbers of rats were forced into small cages, and the normally docile rats, got more and more hostile, and strated attacking and killing each other. Our world is so overpopulated today, that people are behaving like those lab rats.

Sadly, mercy and kindness and civility, and practicing the Golden Rule is not so common anymore, but some still do it. Some poor people get treated badly trying to survive.

[Jorja]

Did you ask the man for the piece of aluminum or did you just show up and start cutting away? If you did not ask maybe he had a right to be upset with you.

[Kelly DeWinter]

Alice;

I really feel for the issues you are going through. I have to agree with Jorja, knock on doors, anything that is on someones property IS someone else's property. You may want to check with some of the local high school auto body shops. When I was in high school we did a lot of probono free body work for people on fixed incomes. The work may not have been perfect, but it was done prety well.

[Alice Torn]

This was not on anyones property, it was in an allie, a veryu wide 100 foot wide gravel area, where i have seen truckers park all weekend, and peole walk through. I have picked up many aluminum cans in there, and stopped and sunned myself, in the grassy area, and no one told me to leave. The bent, muddy piece of aluninum siding was in no way usable. I think it blew in during a windstorm. It had been run over!!! Come on! The guy worked a t aplace almost 50 yards to the other side. i could not believe his actions. Totally uncalled for. I can see your point Jorja, about asking first, but this thing was far from where that guy was. I almost cleed the police myself, to ask if it was wrong to salvage a piece of the siding, where it was. But, the way cops are here, they may be quick to arrest me. This is not the America i knew as a kid. No mercy on the poor.

Update. I wrote a letter of apology, and explanation, for the guys that raged at me this morning, and rode my bicycle over to the place, after hours. The aluminum siding was gone, and the doors were opened there, ans some construction is going on there, so i dared not approach the place, if someone was in there, as i could be arrested. Well, i tried! But no way am i going there when all the men are there, as there would be big trouble. I will have to let this one go.

[ArleneRaquel]

Hugs & Best Wishes Alice. After almost a week of being nice, to me, my homophobic neighbor is back at his usual way, very hateful & mean IMHO> MUAH Darlin with s big hug.

[Alice Torn]

Arlene, cruel people seem to make a cruel world go round. I get it from my brothers, and strangers, and my neighbors will never say hell to me. Some of us live very solitary lonely lives, whether in drab or drag. I am weary of living such a tortured solitary existance. My cats are my only reason to keep going, but i am kind of looking forward to the big sleep, and the next world, where love reigns. People are too much for the most part.

[Beverley Sims]

Alice,
Does not sound that good where you live.
On a lighter side,
There was a big puddle of water on the other side of Chicago the last time I looked. :)

[MelanieAnne]

Could I suggest a cookie sheet or pizza pan for your rusted out floor. They are only a couple bucks, and stronger than aluminum siding, if you don't already have one around the house.
You are correct about the level of anger and lack of civility these days. Jobs are scarce. Prices are going up on everything, and there seems to be no corporate ethics or concern for their employees anymore. Several health systems in the area have laid off employees, and cut others to 30 hours or less to avoid paying benefits.
I live in a vacation area, and the local residents are mostly lowlifes. I used to be a firefighter, and I have a couple scanners, and I listen to the cops now, until I have to turn it off. Seems almost everybody has a Protection Order against someone. Many of the locals have suspended drivers licenses, outstanding warrants, expired plates, are on probation or parole. Lots of runs for domestic arguments. People call the police when some kid drives down the road on a quad with no helmet, or their neighbor is burning leaves [perfectly legal]. The old lady down the street called the cops on me for burning leaves. The cop pulled in my driveway, stepped out of his car and looked in my yard and said, "Oh you're OK, You're burning in a container, Have a nice day", and left. These old seniors have nothing to do all day except peek out the window and call the cops for every little thing. Some old lady called the cops the other night because she heard something bumping on her window screen, and she was scared. I heard things bumping on my screens too. THEY WERE JUNEBUGS BUMPING AROUND THE WINDOWS! I hear the cops make one traffic stop after another at the same location, as they hide in a little two track in the woods, next to the highway, picking off the tourists. Every day, the cops serve eviction or foreclosure notices on 6 to 10 residences. Sorry about the rant, but you are right. This isn't the america we grew up in. Everybody I know says the same thing. Something is going to happen, but nobody knows what it is.

[Alice Torn]

Melanie, I listen to late night radio, and hear "Ground Zero" at 11pm central time, on am 840, am 1100, am 1510, and "Coast to Coast" at midnight, though i turn that off, when its all about aliens and UFO.s SOme of the guests are great, though, and i can glean some good info. This is not the America i knew as a kid. It is far more crass, and brutal, though it was not perfect back then either.

Melanie Ann, Thank s for the suggestion! I will sure consider buying a large cookie sheet, or pizza sheet. Great idea!! You mad my evening.!

Melanie Ann, Part of the increased indifference and cruelty is the vast number of violent, evil video games, and violent television, and movies the last 40 years. Cumulitive hardening of hearts! Beverly, i wrongly said east of Chicago, where there is a pond. I meant west! I know the media and others say globla warming is the biggest threat to survival. I say it is global cold hardening of human hearts toward one another.