I had a friend once who was determined to kill all cats that got in front of his vehicle. If he saw one crossing in front of him, he would floor the vehicle in an attempt to hit it, and was even known to go up on the sidewalk or into driveways in his attempts. There was no reasoning with him on the subject, and he would cackle maniacally during the attempts and chortle for minutes afterwards about it.

 

For some reason I stopped riding with him.

Yeah that would get a swift punch in the nose from me. My favorite copilot is my cat that washed up in my front yard as a lost kitten.

Yeah that would get a swift punch in the nose from me. My favorite copilot is my cat that washed up in my front yard as a lost kitten.

From me too. Other considerations apart, it's peoples' pets and the resulting distress to the owners, often young kids, that's the issue. It's pure animal abuse, and those who do it have something wrong with them. Just hope they don't ever get babysitting jobs.. :mad:

This story is a great beginning to what I hope remains a wonderful thread.

 

This bus driver makes me both proud and ashamed; proud that someone has shown us another lesson in living life well, and ashamed that I talk about being kind and generous a lot more than I actually put into practice. This is a reminder for me to talk less and do more.

 

Thank you Matthew. Great thread.

 

Kind regards,

This is a reminder for me to talk less and do more.

 

I agree 100%

 

The story has made me think about what more I could be doing as well. My biggest fault is being a workaholic so that means I miss out on many other opportunities when I am focused too much on work.

 

Cheers

Honestly I'm to cynical. I all ways think I'm being scammed by the guy on the side of the road etc. Terrible I know.

From me too. Other considerations apart, it's peoples' pets and the resulting distress to the owners, often young kids, that's the issue. It's pure animal abuse, and those who do it have something wrong with them. Just hope they don't ever get babysitting jobs.. :mad:

 

You are oh so right. I remember all to well, as a youngster, having to look for my dog(s), only to find it dead in the road, carry it home and bury it. This happened to me twice. It leaves a lasting impression.

 

As far as criminal tendencies go, animal abuse is just one very short step from human abuse and most who will abuse animals go on to harming people. It reflects the behavior of a sociopath.

 

Again, I could not agree more. I drive quite a bit and the one thing that absolutely ruins my day, putting me on the verge of tears, is hitting a dog or cat that is likely someones loved pet. Wild animals do get in the road and I will still do anything short of causing a accident to avoid them. I hit a deer two years ago. It ran in front of me at night, no chance to react at all. The collision destroyed my Jeep, still, I was more upset about the deer than the Jeep.

 

I have only deliberately run down one animal in my life and that was a rather large rat.

 

Regards to all,

Mel

Honestly I'm to cynical. I all ways think I'm being scammed by the guy on the side of the road etc. Terrible I know.

 

Hi Randy. We have a few of those around here also, some legit, some not.

 

One guy - will work for food - if he was offered some work he would run. If he was given money (what he wanted) he would head to the nearest liquor store.

 

Second guy - will work for food - if he was offered work like an odd job, he would bust his butt doing it and gratefully accept any food or money he was given.

 

Number one is still hanging out on the corner.

 

I helped a man a couple of times. Turns out he was truly one of those hard luck cases. He had lost everything and everyone. No family near enough or prosperous enough to help him etc. He was truly easy to feel sorry for, yet, he didn't really seem to feel sorry for himself. Short story is that enough people thought well of him and his effort to help himself that he finally landed a real job, got a place to live and his doing good.

 

The trouble is how to tell the first guy from the second without buying liquor? My wife has the perfect solution, I think. She goes to the nearest fast food place and buys a hamburger, takes it to them and watches how they respond. The truly needy will smile and show some form of gratitude. The ones who just want your money will eat it like it is a poison pill.

 

Regards,

Mel

Honestly I'm to cynical. I all ways think I'm being scammed by the guy on the side of the road etc. Terrible I know.

 

One thing that always troubled me about homeless is even when you are down and out their is still hierarchy.

 

You loose your wife, your job, your house, your car...everything. Find yourself in a city and take a seat and start panhandling, You bet within 5 minutes of being there someone will come over and tell you to go. Even on the streets a block is controlled by gangs or whatever that only homeless with 'permission' are allowed to work a certain street. You just can't show up to a street and start working it without consent from the local goon squad.

 

I've seen that happen and some guys just newly down and out almost get beaten to death for trying to work a street when they weren't allowed there. Really a sad thing to see.

I personally don't mind if they spend their panhandled money (or at least some of it) on liquor. I think if I was having to live like that I'd want to get out of it on a regular basis. Maybe it helps them sleep at night if they're bedding down on park benches or in shop doorways. Never having personally been in that situation I wouldn't want to be judgemental.

There is a follow up story on Canada's CBC national news. I hope this link works outside the country.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/Manitoba/ID/2281984032/

 

Kind regards,

Indeed it's visible in the Republic anyway, nice to see he's getting a bit of credit for what he's done...

 

Regards,

Ró.