A bit sad today...

[STL]

... I was driving home at around 8 and it was starting to pour and I saw an elderly lady taking her groceries home from the local plaza. I wanted to pull over and offer a lift home but my mate said, you'd look like a stalker or it could be totally read the wrong way so in that split second I decided to keep driving instead of stopping and asking her if she wanted a lift.

It made me sad, really. We live in a world where you can't do such simple things anymore w/out fearing a reprisal. I felt badly that I just didn't have courage to do it anyway as at the end of the day you should let your actions speak for you, not the fears and prejudices of others.

I love kids too and often I want to play w/ them so my sister can make new friends or let them share my sister's snacks but I also worry about parents who get very antsy about their kids eating junk or playing w/ strangers. We were feeding ducks the other Sunday and two little girls walked up to us (my little sister and I) and we offered them bread so they could feed the ducks but then they said they had to ask their parents first. It's stuff like that that puts you off and makes you feel disillusioned. And that's just another example.

And yeah, still mulling over it a bit.

[Pulse]

Them's the times Mate...

I'm sure there were plenty of weirdos around when we were kids but the difference is back then - people kept the things they did behind closed doors. These days - When we watch the news, it's these things that confront us. What are we supposed to think? The difference between Our Generation & that of Generation Y seems to be growing wider by the day... *sigh*

[Stompy]

It's unfortunate that society have turned this way. There's just way too much litigation, mischief and over-political correctness. It's annoying to say the least. I tend not to overthink things anymore. As if I do I start to lose faith in people. Just do what you feel is right, as in the end the truth will always win out.

I think you already have done a great service to the community by just voicing your view on the subject matter. A little bit helps. Like the community we have in this forum, I'm amazed at the lengths people would would go through to help each other with requests and favours. I was totally surprised, but in a joyful way in the way this community functions as a group. So not all hope is lost.

I guess we all just have to try harder to find some common grounds to share experience with and have more tolerance. Trust has been lost in our society and perhaps something that needs to be worked on. Afterall, we only have each other in this world. Otherwise, why bother.

[roller]

i blame the PC police and the silly majority who make up this world, i also dislike so called 'artists'

[TheDirtyDigger]

... I was driving home at around 8 and it was starting to pour and I saw an elderly lady taking her groceries home from the local plaza. I wanted to pull over and offer a lift home but my mate said, you'd look like a stalker or it could be totally read the wrong way so in that split second I decided to keep driving instead of stopping and asking her if she wanted a lift.

It made me sad, really. We live in a world where you can't do such simple things anymore w/out fearing a reprisal. I felt badly that I just didn't have courage to do it anyway as at the end of the day you should let your actions speak for you, not the fears and prejudices of others.

I love kids too and often I want to play w/ them so my sister can make new friends or let them share my sister's snacks but I also worry about parents who get very antsy about their kids eating junk or playing w/ strangers. We were feeding ducks the other Sunday and two little girls walked up to us (my little sister and I) and we offered them bread so they could feed the ducks but then they said they had to ask their parents first. It's stuff like that that puts you off and makes you feel disillusioned. And that's just another example.

And yeah, still mulling over it a bit.

Do you need a cuddle?

[Golden Phoenix]

Stuff the majority. If you think it is the right thing to do, then do it. Who cares how it is going to look.
Who is going to judge you? The random people in the street? The old lady?
If she doesn't trust you then she'll say no. And if the other random people don't trust you then what are they going to do? Stop you?

[GoktimusPrime]

Welcome to my world STL. :/

[jacksplatt11]

Welcome to my world STL. :/

[TheDirtyDigger]

. I wanted to pull over and offer a lift home but my mate said, you'd look like a stalker or it could be totally read the wrong way so in that split second I decided to keep driving instead of stopping and asking her if she wanted a lift.

Well you live in a big city full of freaks and weirdos. Move to a a small community where you get to know everyone and you can do that stuff all the time.

I love kids too and often I want to play w/ them

Whoa...hold up there old hoss...Play what exactly?

so my sister can make new friends

Ok read the rest of the sentence....
Don't put yourself out too much mate. I'm sure lil sis can make friends all by herself.

I also worry about parents who get very antsy about their kids eating junk or playing w/ strangers.

Well so you should. Firstly...why would any parent want a stranger feeding their kids shit? Junk food is called such for a reason. It's ok for a responsible adult to induce diabetes and rot their teeth on crap but it should never be encouraged in children.
Secondly... this is a world full of degenerate f***-ups who should have been put down at birth. Strangers are a danger.
Bad stuff happens everyday.
Parents getting antsy about this stuff is just common sense.

they said they had to ask their parents first.

I commend their intelligence in such a situation. Obviously they have caring parents who have taught them what to do when asked anything by a stranger.

I understand your feelings in this and your selfless ideology as I once felt very similar....but you are young. Give it a couple of years and a bit more experience and the cynicism of modern society and the very nature of the city itself will infect you with it's evil.

[STL]

I know what you're talking about, Digger. I can also understand a kid's reasons for beign cautious. I can appreciate that my sister can make friends w/out me, but too often does it feel to me that children these days are so unwilling to engage another child they don't know - even if they happen to be playing on the same play equipment. I just try to encourage where i can so that she grows up with a desire to be an amicable person and not one who feels distant and removed unless she knows that person.

More broadly, I know where you are coming from about cynicism. It reminds me of Bernard Shaw: "He who has never hoped can never despair." While the sentiment does resonate with me, I believe that we must possess the capacity, the desire, to be more. Hope does not abandon us, we abandon it. Despair we may, but never should we let our capacity to be more, to hope, to inspire be shadowed by that cynicism.