大宝是头脑简单的理工女。也不知她咋选的，就选了＂多伦多太阳报＂的专栏评论员Brian Lilly。交英语作业的日子临近了，大宝却被如火如荼的物理竞赛占据了身心。我看娃挑夜灯于心不忍，问她妈妈能做些什么。大宝让我先读读Brian Lilly，再替她大脑风暴一下这些日子有哪些热点新闻值得争议，而且能和Lilly的文风对应得上。＂妈妈，我太忙了，忙到没有时间关注新闻。你只要帮我确定一个题目就行了，文章我自己来写。＂大宝把我轰出她的房间。
接旨后的我就开始谷歌Lilly了。大宝说，liberal的英语老师非常憎恨Brian Lilly。我担心地问，那你选与老师三观相背的人，老师会不会压低你的分数。大宝说，应该不会。只要模仿得真切，哪怕文章内容让老师气得跳脚，她也会公平地给出好分。我对此将信将疑。对人性的深谷，我们终其一生，都未必探得到底，况且娃还只是娃呢！
我虽然是加国公民，但是平日里关注的，多是美国的政治。我熟悉的媒体评论人，比如Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly等，也都是美国人。我最喜欢的讲说者，是Vivek Ramaswamy，他真是阳春白雪一般。因为Vivek， 我对印度文化产生了好奇。
对自己的国家，我反倒是漫不经心的：谁是Brian Lilly，完全孤陋寡闻哈。赶紧补课。读了几篇，好像没被震住粉住。也难怪，咱国家那点事儿，太缺乏drama了。娃时间紧，既然Lilly是保守派评论员，咱就瞎抓两则新闻，根据咱正常人的常识性思维，给娃凑一篇吧。Common Sense, 现如今就是反动的意思吧？艾玛，一不小心，给整了一篇反动文章。
写好了大纲，给娃过目。结果娃气愤：＂你没好好去读，这根本不是Lilly的口气和写法！＂我辩解：＂怎么不是啊，他不就是多用这样淡淡的讥讽嘛？＂娃没空再理睬我。后来她是怎么完成作业的，我完全不知情了。但是学期结束时大宝告诉我，她的文章被留校当作范文了。我猜，是不是大宝的文章比我的更能激起自由派英语老师的愤怒。而且，大宝赌对了，至少，这个老师是公平的。
昨天整理旧文档，偶然发现了自己一年多前匆草的反动文章。读着竟然失笑。这篇被大宝羞辱后就再也无缘见天日的草稿，毕竟也是可怜天下父母心的见证啊！
南边的大选正值胶着。贴篇千疮百孔的反动文，权当作应景吧。
How to Treat a Thief like a Human Being
A week ago, a shoplifter was caught at a downtown Winners Store. The scene where three law enforcement officers were trying to refrain the thief got videotaped by a passerby. Seeing three men holding the arm of the seized, pushing him against the wall, the videotape producer claimed: “I was really shook [shaken] up having witnessed this violence in broad daylight.” “Even if someone is stealing, they are still a human being and they deserve to be treated like a human being. Objects can be replaced,” she said.
Three days after the Winners “Violence” has been “condemned” on social media, another incident happened in an upper town jewelry store, also videotaped. Same as previous story, this is a show played in a brazen daylight. But the opposite part is, this time, the group of three are robbers. One of them smashed the store window with a snow shovel while his partner filled a backpack with an unknown quantity of valuables. Three of them then jumped into a Tesla sedan and drove away. Among all stunned onlookers, there was only ONE lady who had tried to stop the robbery with a mop. Of course, a mop didn't work.
There is an increasing trend in recent years that the conduct of police and other law enforcement personnel are always scrutinized and criticized by media and public, while the law breakers tend to receive sympathies and forgiveness. Like above two stories, I didn't hear much denouncement on the jewelry store robbery, even this was way more violent. But quite a controversy easily arose regard to Winners Loss Prevention Officers’behavior, questioning if they have used excess forces. People seem to gain certain moral superiority by standing on the side of so called “Disadvantaged Group”. It is fashionable to classify criminals into that group.
Maybe our whole society got brainwashed by Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. We believe today's thieves and robbers are still as sorrowful as Jean Valjean, took a piece of bread and ran, hoping to feed the sick and dying ones at home. Well, look at what captured by our modern generation of Robin Hood these days: That Winners shoplifter maybe a bit homely and plain-tasted, in fact more claws and paws are reaching towards Louis Vuitton bags, Apple phones, Bvlgari jewelry and many more. I am not good at listing those luxury brand names, but believe me, those hunters are. Even gold bullion in shipping went missing right at our Pearson Airport. None of these are necessities to save lives in hunger and poverty. So why are we so guilty at catching and punishing thieves?
“Objects can be replaced……” That is true. But who is going to pay the price for the replacement? According to Target, inventory loss due to shoplifting and organized robbery totaled about $763 million last fiscal year. The situation is still worsening, and this year their anticipated loss would surpass $1 billion. Other big-name retailers like Walmart, Home Depot, Best Buys have spoken the similar problem. The retailers must stay profitable for the sake of rich share holders; therefore, the loss will be spread and carried by all other lawful customers. Among them, the ordinary working class are suffering the most by having to pay higher prices for the goods needed for their living.
Should we treat thieves more humanly? What is the appropriate manner to deal with them? In Saudi Arabia, thieves may have their hands cut if caught. Of course, we don't want to trade that cruelty for a safe heaven (Saudi Arabia's crime rate is ridiculously low indeed). On the other hand, the lucky Californian retail thieves and robbers are released intact from the police station within the same day they arrive. My friend in San Francisco call California “sucks”. Do we have only two extreme choices: Saudi style or Californian style? By questioning this, I come to believe the behaviour of the law enforcement staffs of downtown Toronto Winners store are totally acceptable: Their style is perfectly in between two extremes, in which reasonable physical force was used to make sure the situation caused no danger to all. Thank God we have evolved from Medieval Saudi Arabia, but not degenerated to sinful California.
In the end, I want to applaud to the lady holding the mop to confront the robbers at the jewelry store. Totally unprepared at that time, instinct and courage were all she had to defend herself. She was fortunate enough to face the gangsters who only had a snow shovel. What if they had guns! She must had wished to death if her private small store can afford to hire a Loss Prevention Team as those big retails like Winners.
So please, think a bit before you rush to condemn the law enforcement officers. Majority of them are no different from us, they are sons/daughters, husbands/wives, fathers/mothers, except that they put their lives on the line for us every single day. They had their loved ones waiting for their safe return from work and heartbroken if they fail. I am sure they also would rather greet people with handshakes, with sweet hellos, with hugs, and with pats on backs and shoulders. A lot of times unfortunately, they must shout, strangle, toss handcuffs, or even pull the trigger.
We all wish to live in an ideal Beautiful New World where all are treated as human beings. We are just not there yet.
