Musings of a Senior Scribe
Come On!!!
By Mona Lease 

Hi, all!! Do you all remember the "scene" on the Decatur, Indiana football field in 1999? Seven students were suspended for two years for "brawling." Since black students were involved - it surely was a "racial incident" - right? Indiana is a "zero tolerance" state - period... all the way to a pregnant mother convicted of a drug crime… possession, dealing, etc. They will receive no ADC or assistance of any kind. Someone brought Jesse Jackson up from Alabama for the trial. The Judge said  - "We're zero tolerance. It's all spelled out in the school handbook." Jesse promptly went back home. 

I recently submitted an application to join an organization. No, it's not in Darke County. Thanks to those of you who said I could use your names as personal references, by the way. We'll save these particulars for a future column. 

At the first meeting, I was sitting at a long table perpendicular to another long table. A gentleman sat at the end of the other table next to me. I was busily scrawling notes when he said - "Excuse me" and took my paper. He wrote a couple of notes and pushed the paper back to me. I thanked him. The second meeting found us sitting in the same places. - more note scrawling for me! At the meeting's end, as I was putting on my coat, I felt someone hold up the shoulder of my coat. I accepted and turned. It was the same gentleman. I thanked him and smiled. He leaned toward me and extended an invitation to go to a local restaurant with a group of them. Again, I thanked him. 

As I was walking out, another man fell into step with me. We talked on the way to my van. I let my dog out of the van and we spoke while we watched her nose around. Then he left. 

To put this in to perspective - take off the racial/sexual "glasses" for a moment. Much better! Regarding the expelled students - they ended in a "brawl." These normally start with two people and others join in to "make it fair." It was a football game - most probably a black kid bumped into another kid accidentally. Through the "racial glasses" it was intentional and it escalated from there. That might be why Indiana is a zero tolerance state. It does avoid the "pomp and circumstance." And it leaves the truth. 

Which brings me to people believing that blown-up mailboxes, broken windows and the like are crimes committed by people "on drugs." While I admit that there are cases of this - can all of them be "drug-induced?" Is it at all likely that a guy is mad at his wife, or a child, his parents and they go walking. Thinking it all over they "sucker-punch" a mailbox. 

As for my experience - I believe I could push it to a sexual tone. I believe I could "set the stage" and make it a sexual crime. What I really believe - "glasses" off  is -  a "gentleman"  saw a woman interested in the organization and helped "round out" the speaker's words with additional, useful information. I believe he was extending the dining invitation to make me feel a part of the group. The "gentlemanly" thing to do is help a woman on with her coat or open a door for her. Have we gotten so far from "society" that we can no longer extend the "social graces?" And, someone looking at the overweight woman who is obviously happy with herself and wondering how she does it (with a smile on our faces and wishing we had that ability?) is a racial/sexual crime - how? Without the racial, hair, eye, and skin color differences - aren't we just a "paper chain of people? You know - the ones we cut out of the folded paper in school. 

To you guys out there who still practice chivalry and help an unknown woman with her coat or a door - congratulations!! Keep it going. To everyone else - It's just a coat - a door - and a color.   Come on!!! 

Remember the kiddies and our service people. Be good to the furry and feathered ones out there. Be safe and healthy. See ya next time!! Ever Toodles!! MONA