Three hundred million people and the Golden Rule

Sometime tomorrow morning, the U.S. population is going to hit 300 million people.

Hoo boy. 

What does this mean?  If my neighborhood is a microcosm, then here’s what it means:

There are more and more condos being built. (If you live someplace more rural than Sheepshead Bay, in Brooklyn, then substitute “cheap housing” for “condos”).

All of the venerable institutions that you grew up on (locally, that would be Castle Harbour restaurant, the Sheepshead Bay Diner, Leon’s Bake Shop, the Palms Shore Yacht Club, Captain Walter’s, the list goes on) are gone, and you wonder where you’re going to get anything decent to eat within five years’ time.

The folks that have lived here “forever” are becoming less and less tolerant of the folks that are “new” (if you live in Sheepshead Bay and are tolerant, you have my apologies).

The offspring of the folks that have lived here “forever” are becoming less and less tolerant – instead of more and more tolerant (which makes more sense to me) of people who don’t look or act like they do (if you live in Sheepshead Bay and you are accepting of people who don’t look or act like you do, then you have my apologies).

Who the hell’s business is it what your sexual preference is, anyway? This evening I discovered that some people I know – rather, the grown children of some people that I know, from the neighborhood – lured a man to a secluded beach near Sheepshead Bay, because he was gay, and when he got there, they robbed him and apparently started to beat him up, and the “confrontation” (the word is not mine) spilled out onto the Belt Parkway, and the poor bastard was hit by a car and killed.

May all of you reading this never know the confusion that this guy felt, emailing people who he thought were like-minded individuals, and then meeting whatever horror he met out by Plumb Beach. May you never know the hatred that this guy felt, from people he had never met, because he was different from them.

And may Sheepshead Bay, and so many places like it, not lose a sense of community – for all of the members of its community. The white, the black, the Catholics, the Russians, the narrow-minded, the Irish, the Jews, the Italian, the homophobic, the gays, the Chinese, the Hispanics, the Muslims, etc. And let’s not forget the single women who choose a career over a husband and a family. For that matter, let’s not forget Republicans.  I get a little bent out of shape about politics sometimes, but at the end of the day, for Pete’s sake, I’m not going to lure someone out to Plumb Beach and kill him because he voted for Bush.  Let’s get back to a modicum of civilization, shall we?

Michael Sandy is the name of the man who died.  The names of the four young men involved in the hate crime – and that’s what it is, let’s call a spade a spade – are Gary Timmins, John Fox, Ilya Shurov and Anthony Fortunato.

“Love your neighbor as yourself." — Moses (ca. 1525-1405 BCE) in the Torah, Leviticus 19:18

"What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others." — Confucius (ca. 551–479 BCE)

"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man." — Hillel the Elder (ca. 50 BCE-10 CE)

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." — Jesus (ca. 5 BCE—33 CE) in the Gospels, Luke 6:31; Luke 10:27 (affirming of Moses)— Matthew 7:12

"Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you." — Muhammad (c. 571 – 632 CE) in The Farewell Sermon

"One should seek for others the happiness one desires for himself" Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama, c. 563 - c. 483 B.C.)

I can find more ways to say it if the above is not clear.

Comments

[Kevin]

I've said this many times, Liz -- when are you going to run for office? I'll gladly contribute to your campaign fund!

[Grace]

Not everyone is as accepting as you are, kid.

[scribbler]

Well now, that's the point now, isn't it??? BE MORE ACCEPTING
My personal farvorite is: "Judge not, least you be judged."

[scribbler]

Any moron that gives you shit for this post needs to immediately seek some serious counseling. Obviously they have deep seeded issues that they need to face.

[Jody from Down the block]

Great writing, and you hit it on the head with the neighborhood issues and newcomers. The Michael Sandy issue is also a letdown for mankind. The parents of those 4 hoodlums should also be smacked as well.