Tease and Sympathy

So.... If the first comment is any indication, you didn't like my last entry about D'Angelo. Well, I didn't like it either. But it's a true story. I didn't make it up. I decided to share it with you to illustrate how serious this situation is; how dealing with life-threatening pressure can affect regular people over time. It can bring out the best, but it also can bring out the worst, often at the same time.

What I've found most intriguing is - the lack of sympathy from Mille Lacs "Academy" employees and its supporters - sympathy for the victims of this Nexus Takeover. No. They're really pissed at us. It concerns me that these unsympathetic, hate-filled people (like some hecklers who've commented) may claim sympathy for the sex offenders and chastize us for not wanting to live next to them. They pretend to be superior to those who prefer the hayfield to a mega-complex. When it comes to sympathy, I don't think you can pick and choose. Either you are a sympathetic person or you're not. The employees (and their spouses) who have attacked Hannabelle et. al with such venom indicate non-sympathetic personalities. They're so nasty! I wouldn't let them babysit my cat, let alone disturbed kids.

You see, many of these folks have pseudo-sympathy: a form of mis-placed sympathy, mis-directed emotionalism. Usually they have something to gain from pretending to be caring - usually self-importance or attention. They act as if they are superior. It's like all those folks who supported the image of O.J. Simpson the football star, while ignoring that he murdered Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. They vigorously defended him and cheered when he got off. How bizarre. Its a bit the same here. These folks demonstrate "pseudo-sympathy" for the sex offenders and give absolutely no consideration to their victims: including little girls and little boys, the toddlers they sexually molested. These are the kind of people who might expound on O.J.'s early years, how hard it was for him, make excuses for him, sympathize with him and ignore the people he harmed. They even have a tendency to blame the victims. Of course, the truth has nothing to do with sympathy. Most of the Nexus supporters have vested interests in the "academy". They have selfishly put jobs and businesses - MONEY - before people's homes and families.

In my last entry, I tried to show how this ordeal has changed one person from being a kind-hearted, loving, caring individual whose life had been devoted to helping others - both people and animals - and turned her into someone with enough hurt, anger and hatred to be jubilant at the possibility of another person's death (D'Angelo's, not the actual suicide victim who worked at the 'academy'). Yes. Jubilation... Don't you think that in itself is tragic? I do.

This is indeed a life-threatening situation for us, the Nay-sayers. If Nexus builds here, our lives will be changed so drastically, you can say its more or less over for us. The lives we had will be over. But it may already be too late. The damage may be irreparable. This torture has changed the very core of my being - and not for the good, mind you - to the point where I know I will never be like I was before. It has served to harden my heart. I will never trust anyone again. I now know that none of us are safe. We are not safe from one another. I know this Takeover has also deeply hurt everyone in the neighborhood, without exception. That there are people who cannot seem to comprehend the damages Nexus/Onamia/Byes are causing for us - what they are doing to us emotionally, physically, and financially, and that these people don't care about our very real pain... oh that is just too too sad. What kind of people are they? It looks like they were already hateful powermongers long before any of this started. Hard-hearted and unsympathetic. Selfish. Greedy. Nasty. Opportunistic. Vicious. (But probably 'good Christians' who never miss church, right?)

My greatest personal challenge, perhaps, is to get through all of this with my humanity still intact. I don't want to become one of THEM. Right now, I'm in "Self-Defense Mode". And yes, I can be tough and offensive. (Even raunchy!) But I never want to get to the point where I could intentionally destroy someone's well-being without batting an eye. (I don't even like to hurt anyone's feelings. I hate telling a friend she has broccoli stuck in her teeth...) But then, I don't think I have to worry about being like them. I might be forced to toughen up, but I still feel some sensitivity. I'm not like the people at Nexus or City Hall. I value qualities like integrity, principles, choosing right over wrong. I still believe in Freedom, Justice, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution of the United States. If we don't stand up and fight against the Nexuses who think the world is theirs for the taking, then we might as well all give up, take a number, kiss Big Brother's ass and get on the train. Orwell wrote about our government. Now Big Brother is controlled by Big Business. Welcome to Corporate America. Godzilla vs Bambi. If we allow them to overpower us, it will all be over for all of We the People.

So if I offended anyone with the last entry, please keep in mind that Hannabelle doesn't care if you're offended. You SHOULD be offended. You SHOULD be indignant. You SHOULD be outraged. But not at the victims of Nexus. Not the ones who were just over here minding our own business. Be upset at our local government for not protecting its citizens, for facilitating, for collaborating with a giant corporation who has done nothing but hurt us. Circle the wagons! Round up the 'the herd' and protect the vulnerable stragglers from the predators who intend to eat us for lunch. If you don't, you're no better than them. You are enabling them. You decide whose side you're on. What kind of person do you want to be?

If you think my relief at the thought of Jim D'Angelo's death was terrible, let me leave you with this: Had it been Bill Hill or Bob Mickus, I'd have rented the VFW and thrown the biggest damn party this town has ever seen! And you'd all have been invited. Drinks on me.