Faith And Collective Trauma 12

I have just corrected some incomplete information from my blogpost on 18 September, Gentle Reader. It was not Nordstrom who sent the young rent-a-thug from Paladin Security to harass the panhandler in front of their store but the Pacific Centre Mall. Please contact the general manager of Pacific Centre and express your displeasure. Apologies to Nordstrom for the miscommunication. I have also corrected my Google Review. The manager of Nordstrom actually reached out to me in an email yesterday to express concern for the panhandler and to also correct my misinformation. I am leaving online the corrected review as an act of repentance and as a reminder that just as there are douchebags all over the place, there are also good people everywhere and this needs to be remembered especially by zealous social activists such as myself who sometimes forget that we have a brain. There are people of goodwill in all strata and in all categories of our humanity. There is a lot that gets done behind the scenes that few of us know about, a lot of silent activism and influence towards kindness and social justice. This of course isn't enough, because it is always the virtuous few being the donkeys, the beasts of burden doing the bulk of the work. Everyone else can follow it online if they're not busy on their Twitter feed, Instagram, Facebook updates, reading inspirational blogs such as yours truly, wasting time on Tinder or Hey Cupid, discreetly looking at porn, getting run over on crosswalks. We need more people to take action. Young Rent-A-Thug got away with bullying that panhandler, only because he could. At least Blonde Hitler Youth heard from me about it, and perhaps as the manager of Nordstrom has also raised the concern with Pacific Centre Mall management, maybe young Rent-A-Thug will get his pretty ass fired, or at least sufficiently kicked and he will accept this teachable moment for improving his attitude towards the less fortunate. We really need to put our phones away and our earbuds too and start paying more attention to the people around us, because they are also our neighbour, they are also part of our extended family. If only people weren't so addicted to smart phone technology, but the bastards from Apple and Macintosh and other places have most of us by the short and curlies, Gentle Reader. Those phones are the new tobacco. They have become the legal crack, and it is scientifically verified that this technology is addictive and this is an intentional strategy to keep us hooked and to keep us buying their perniciously clever little product. Don't get me wrong. I am glad there is good will out there. I am also saddened and distressed that we often feel so paralyzed and helpless. We need to start paying more attention to one another. We need to stop just minding our own business. Hello? Anyone out there?