A crime too heinous

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RECENTLY someone posted a story on the Internet. In the story, a young and successful executive was driving down a neighbourhood street in his new car. Suddenly, a brick smashed into his car door. He slammed on the brakes and backed to the spot where the brick had been thrown.

The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting,    “What was that all about   and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

The young boy was apologetic. “Please, mister … please, I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,” he pleaded. “I threw the brick because no one   else would stop …” With tears dripping down his    face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned   executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the disabled boy back into the wheelchair.

“Thank you and may    God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger.     Too shook up for words,   the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the pavement towards their home.

The storyteller ended with the message: “Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!”

The posting elicited a number of responses and among them was a sceptical retort from my friend Stephen, which read: “That was a great story, very moving and touching. However, I am afraid that the reality these days may not be quite so pleasant.”

He then recounted a possible scenario. “The    man (car owner) helped the boy and his ‘disabled’ brother up. Then suddenly the ‘disabled’ and ‘wheelchair-bound’ boy stood up, pulled out a machete from underneath the wheelchair, and the two boys attacked the car owner. They stole his wallet, took his car keys and made off with his vehicle, leaving him for dead.”

I thought it was very ungracious of Stephen to post such a cynical remark. However, when I did a survey of the crime pages    in the newspaper, I must   say I have to agree with   him. I can understand where he is coming from. Our world seems to be infested (yes, they are like vermin) with conmen, thieves, robbers and killers. By means of stealth, cunning and sheer murderous intent, they seek to deprive their victims of their money and lives.

However, over the last few years there emerged a particularly heinous crime. It is vicious and damaging   to society. The modus operandi of these absolute lowlifes is to feign injury by the roadside to induce drivers to stop and thus render them (the drivers) to attacks by these miscreants. This is not the stuff of fiction but cold stark and sad reality.

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