I’m a ‘do right’ kind of person.
That’s my big contribution.
So far, so good.
If there’s a clear choice to make between one thing or the other, make the right choice.
“But, Blogger Dave, what about the gray area when no one is looking?”
Children have a hard time with the ‘no one is looking’ part.
Not me.
My Mom was a DMV manager who busted interstate car theft rings when the thieves dressed up to register their ill-gotten goods in Oregon with our low cost vehicle registration.
They saved a few bucks, but lost years of their lives, which is to say us kids were in no shape to pull one over on her.
Her partner in child crime watch was my Dad, an insurance adjuster, a former Marine sergeant, who knew the difference between shit and shinola.
Both of them were on the job all of the time, as good parents are.
They were ready to do right for their family because that’s what they wanted us to do.
But, what about those gray areas?
As a fifth grader, a group of kids wanted to fit in with the older kids, the sixth graders who were the coolest kids in school.
We went with a sixth grader to Pony Village, the biggest mall on the Oregon coast, and got instructed on how to fit in with his group.
Payless had a jewelry counter with friendship rings displayed on top of a case.
One kid would distract the clerk while the other lifted the top off the ring display and snagged two rings, one of them, one for the distractor.
I was the bag man, lifted two rings, and kept one.
I wore it home with a plan of where to hide it from my crime investigator parents.
It would be safe in between the mattresses on my bed? In a drawer? In my pocket?
After sweating it out overnight, and watching my Mom make my bed the next morning with a good look under the mattress, I was worried.
I had the feeling of guilt closing in. If she found my new ring, what would I say, what’s my excuse, my cover story?
The parental policing didn’t find it because I took it to school the next day and gave it away.
I was out of the ring club. Score for good values?
The Time After That
A year later I was the sixth grader with a new group to join.
The initiation was again stealing something from Payless.
This time I ripped a $.79 notebook.
It was in my jacket pocket when, later on, my Mom hung my coat up.
She gave it a pat down and asked me where the notebook came from.
I lied and said a friend gave it to me.
My Dad called the friend’s Dad, who asked his kid why he gave me a notebook.
The kid said he didn’t, the Dad called him a liar, and my Dad handed me the phone to listen.
It was awful, I started crying, and confessed after listening to a heavy hand come down.
All good? Nope.
Did I get the same beating? Nope.
My Dad drove us down to Payless. The manager was a friend of his from the mall where his office was; the manager’s kid was a friend of mine.
Dad: He stole from your store. Do what you do with thieves.
What? No family solidarity?
Mr. Northrup banned me from Pony Village and I stayed banned until I graduated from high school.
I learned my lesson early.
Do Right As Soon As You Can
My takeaway from those days comes with watching and hearing people put up convincing arguments for themselves and their actions.
My Mom and Dad would have taken them down in between breaths of air.
They knew snake behavior when they heard it. To them I say, “You’re welcome.”
Every family has one of those kids, and I fit the bill in mine.
If you have friends with ideas that go against how you were raised, find new friends.
If the highlights of their life story include fucking people over time after time, find new friends.
This all came to light while watching the first season of White Lotus when one of the girls convinced her new love to rob her friends’ parents.
The guy didn’t want to do it, but his girl had a convincing argument: “It’s a way to get something back for how your people have been treated.”
Unexpected interference ruined the job, he got caught, the stolen goods returned, and his girl felt bad as she packed to leave without seeing him again.
There he was holding the bag, and going down in a bad way, while his idea-girl flew away to the rest of her life.
Eventually, her guy would be a story about those crazy days way back when; his story would include a felony charge.
It’s a good idea to do right.
About David Gillaspie
