You may have noticed recently that a
tenant decapitated an older gentleman, a nice guy, in Hartford,
Connecticut, who was renting a room to him, and wanted to evict the tenant
because he was not paying his rent.
Victor King - Beheaded by Tenant
The victim’s cousin Jim Banks told
the Hartford Courant King “was one of the good guys. One
that would never hurt a soul. One that would always reach out and
help others. He was pleasant as can be. Always seemed to be happy. He
was just a joy to be around.” - Buzzfeed News
I had a similar
experience last month, only I wasn’t actually decapitated, just
figuratively. I allowed a young couple, with two five-year-old
boys, to stay in my home, because they said they were new to the
city, had no place to live, and needed a couple weeks to get on their
feet, get jobs, and a place to stay. It was a long story, with
virtue-signaling and expectations of government windfall payments,
etc., - all of it fantasies, as I look back on it.
They stayed here
three weeks, then called the cops on me when I asked them to leave
and said “We have rights” - their exact words.
I was outraged
because I had done everything I could to help these young people and
their two children – I’d given them a place to say,
encouragement, trust, money, rides to the market and such, and was
shocked to discover that they would take over my house, refuse to
leave, and much more, even bring in a Pit-bull dog to stay.
I asked one of the
cops who came if she had ever heard of such a thing – an elderly
person allowing a young family to stay in his house, doing every
single thing he could to help them in their hour of need, and then
having them turn on him, making him a captive in his own house, and
refusing to leave.
Her answer was - “It
happens all the time” - said with a scowl, and obvious pain.
That’s why I have
written this post. “It happens all the time,” so there are other
elderly (I am 79) people out there who could be prevented from making
the same mistake I made. A caution is timely, being that there are to
be more homeless people around in the coming months, due to the
ending of certain unemployment benefits, the ending of the moratorium on
evictions, and the economic decline.
Yes, I didn’t get
decapitated, but I went through hell, because I wasn’t aware of
certain realities, some of which are as follows:
1. There are a lot
of poor, desperate people around who are living on the edge and who
will do desperate things.
2. We have had about two generations now of young people being born into the
acceptance of Gingrich-Reagan-Ayn Rand-Milton Friedman-Alan
Greenspan-Super Rich CEO's -Greed is Good “Republicans” and their
goers-along and enablers. The young couple who took over my home did so because it was perfectly in line
with all that. There were no scruples whatever, no shame, nothing
like that – just sheer pursuit of one’s own advantage. I was
elderly, vulnerable, helpful to others, decent - and their attitude
wasn’t even “sorry about that.” Their attitude was nothing even
close to “Sorry about that.” It was contempt and murderous
hatred. They also thought that I was rich because I have a home, even
though I actually am at about zero on the bottom line.
3. To the
pure-in-heart, all things are pure. But in fact, one of every three
people you see around you in the USA is a Trumpist. They are
unshakably convinced that his malice and insanity are good. If you
are decent, vulnerable and kind, it calls out a response in such
people who are not like you that is, basically, murderous.
4. Finally –
although I hope you can add more realities in the comments – There
are many well-meaning Democrats who incautiously or naively advocate
rent strikes and moratoria on evictions without due consideration for
those of us who actually take in the desperate homeless.