What I Don't Know

Apologies - the title should be "an iota of what I don't know", and that's just in limiting it to issues associated with the Uplands.

It's been nearly a month since I posted to the Uplander.  I confess I didn't know how to proceed with the blog once I was elected to the Board.  This is not an official blog, and does not represent the thinking of the Board or it's management company.  But there are still issues I would like to hear about from the residents. Until I figure out where the line is, I will try hard to keep the blog restricted to either my personal experiences as a member on the Board or topics that the Uplanders may want to speak out.

I was spurred into taking the leap into writing again this morning by one of our neighbors.  He congratulated us on the recent Newsletter.  He mentioned it was already having an effect!  Yup.  His observations are that people are speeding more than ever.  I don't know why people feel the need to speed in our beautiful neighborhood.  It is an old problem, that go back at least 3 years according to the minutes I've read thus far as I study neighborhood issues.  Even some residents who complain about speeders have been observed speeding.  I do admit to speeding when I was much younger.  For me, I was motivated by a sense of urgency to get something done or to be somewhere I needed to be.  I was cured of my speeding habit when a nice officer at the Lab where I worked stopped me and told me about his experiences with pedestrians getting hit by speeding vehicles.  That was nearly 20 years ago, but the memory of what he described is still so vivid that when I see or hear about our neighborhood speeders I can only cringe at what could happen with the children in our area or even the wildlife.  Even if a living animal were not hit, the chance of losing control of a vehicle when trying to avoid an unexpected object just isn't worth the few seconds the speeder is saving.  At least in my opinion.  But then, what do I know?

The other motivator for me to resume the blog was when I came upon 34 across in the NEA crossword in the paper this morning; a 6 letter word for "informed on".  That was an easy one for me because a very dear acquaintance of mine used the word the other day and it gave me pause.  I'd been mulling over the word "ratted" even before that.  "Ratting out" is a difficult concept for me that I do not fully understand.  I can understand the use of the word when referring to informing on someone to whom you have pledged loyalty. Usually, you see that kind of devotion in the military where it is critical to know someone has your back.  There are stories of where someone did something wrong and their buddies refused to report it because of loyalty to the force and resentment against the enforcers. But I don't know where the line is, to be honest.  When does the person who is trying to make the world a better place by speaking up when they see something wrong, illegal, immoral, or threatening stop becoming a Rat?

If someone violates an agreement and it causes you harm, is it ratting them out to speak to an empowered authority?  For instance, is it ratting out the sales clerk who is very rude and short changes you, maybe even insults you if you talk to the manager?  Or is that making the world better for someone else who might be in a more fragile emotional state as well as standing up or yourself?

Maybe the topic is of interest to me because of a couple of times where I ratted some one out.  The first time I was working late on a critical experiment.  I learned from a maintenance person that the power was about to go out for an emergency repair.  He was having trouble notifying people because it was after hours and he was unfamiliar with the laboratories.   I told him I'd alert the others who were working late in our building.  All so fine and good, right?  Well, one gentleman wanted to know just who I was that I was cutting the power.  Even though I tried to explain I wasn't cutting the power, and he knew who I was and that I was just letting him know so he could safely shut down his equipment, he was irate.  He actually proceeded to pull out a pocket knife (6" blade) and brandish at me.  When I didn't back down he got within inches of my face (close enough that, being a woman with certain protuberances, we were touching) and threatened me.  I told him "nice try at intimidation" (I can be so stupid), and told him I was just the messenger - he could do what he wanted with his experience.  Since he was the last one I needed to notify, I went back to my experiment to shut it down.  When that was completed, I retired to my office to make notes of the power shortage and do that log book thing scientists are supposed to do.  But as I was sitting there I realized what if it hadn't been me telling him the news of the power outage? What if it were one of the (few) other ladies who were more timid (and more sensible) than me whom he threatened? So despite my misgivings of ratting out the guy, the next day I had a chat with Knife-man's supervisor.  As expected Knife-man ended-up call me a rat.  Interestingly enough, when the supervisor talked to Knife-man, he ended up pulling the knife on the supervisor.  And due to a horrible knife accident in the supervisor's life, the supervisor got very upset.  Fortunately, Knife-man was offered the opportunity to take some anger management classes. The seem to have helped because he never threatened me again.

My second story was actually much scarier to me than having a knife flashed in my face.  My previous dog started barking one night.  She didn't usually bark, so I got up to see what was going on.  Across the street was a young man standing in front of a car.  I started to go back to bed because the teens across the street had a party earlier that evening.  I figured it was just another one taking his leave.  Then I looked again because the kid was in black and wearing a hood over his head.  To my amazement, he proceeded to take one of those bars they use to break into locked cars.  HOLY COW!  So I called the police.  They actually caught the kid.  Fine, except then the police came to the door and wanted me to identify him.  Oh Crud.  I got dressed, got into the back of the police car (wow, those seats are hard), and they drove me down the block to where the young man had been caught.  He was standing on the curb, cuffed, and couldn't really see my face.  I confirmed he was the young man I had seen and thought it was over.  NOT.  And this is where it got scary, particularly because I was single at the time.  I had to go to court to testify about what I had seen.  It frightened me because the perp considered me a rat and of course, he would know who I was after I testified.  I was afraid of repercussions.  Fortunately, the young man decided that since there was a witness he would plea bargain.   I not only got out of testifying (WHEW), his plea bargain revealed a theft ring working the county.  Even better, one of my neighbors was able to get his car stereo back.  There's nothing like helping a neighbor.

Bottom line, I don't know when doing what is right becomes something wrong.  How is it the bullies breaking social conventions, agreements, social mores, laws, etc., are in the right, and those trying to stop them become the "bad guys"?  I was definitely the rat in both of those situations according to our current society. And although I shudder at the thought of having to testify against a criminal, I'd do it again.

Let me end with a question.  Are those people who are concerned about speeders "rats" for mentioning them to me as a Board member?  Or are they unsung heroes if we can prevent even one accident?   You can decide for yourself.  I think you know what this rat thinks.