Here We Go Again!
I love the local paper’s Letters to the Editor page. It’s like an eye into the soul of our community, a wonderful way to get an inside look at JUST WHAT SMACKTARDS SOME PEOPLE ARE. Ahem. Pardon me. In the past, I’ve expressed opinions that may make it seem like I really don’t care for old people. Not at all. I simply don’t care for old people—or any people—who can’t drive properly. But today I’m going to stick up for old people—well, to be more specific, handicapped people. A well-worded, but nonetheless peculiar letter to the editor in today’s paper prompted my reaction. An excerpt:
The current approach to accessibility depends primarily on able-bodied persons. It implicates countless people who are regularly denied the equal opportunity of parking proximate to stores, beaches and various other destinations in order that handicapped spots remain available.
Those not in possession of a permit are regularly expected to compromise their time, finances and convenience for the sake of others. [Emphasis mine.]
Those who are vocal about the feelings and demands of the handicapped might want to acknowledge the compromises others are expected to make.
“The equal opportunity of parking proximate to stores”! Is that in the Bill of Rights? Can we expect the ACLU to be hired to take up the torch in favor of those who may not park in handicapped spaces and feel taken advantage of? Christ! Maybe the letter writer is a lawyer; not many other people use the word “proximate” (although given my heuristic tendencies, it sounds like something I would say).
What really blows me away here is that this person feels so strongly about being inconvenienced by the fact that he cannot park in a handicapped space at the store. Really—let’s examine this. How the hell much of an inconvenience is it? How many handicapped spaces are there in the average parking lot, anyway? For that matter, how big is the average parking lot? If you’re having physical difficulty walking a few meters across the lot and into the store…then maybe YOU should have a handicapped permit! Because that’s why we have permits and spaces for the disabled in the first place!
It seems pretty arrogant to me that this person should suggest that handicapped people, and those who support them, ought to acknowledge the “compromises” others are expected to make to allow them their reserved parking spaces. Oh, boo hoo. If the biggest “compromise” you’ve made in your life is to park six spaces away from the door instead of one, then you have WAY too much time on your hands. We should all be so lucky as to have so few cares in the world that we can actually bitch about not being able to park right next to the door of the bank or the video store. What the hell makes people think they are so important?
This letter, by the way, was prompted by another letter of a few weeks ago, and the fracas it generated. Somebody wrote in bitching about someone he saw parking in a handicapped space (yes, with a permit on their car), but whom did not appear to be handicapped. The person writing the letter went into a tirade about it. Gee—just because you’re not outwardly disabled doesn’t mean you don’t have lung disease, heart disease or some other debilitating condition that makes it hard for you to move about. I’ve seen examples of this attitude myself in this town—once, I saw a car parked in a handicapped spot (with its permit displayed), and noticed somebody had stuck a huge note under the windshield wiper saying “I saw you park here, and you didn’t look disabled to me! You should be ashamed of yourself!” I mean, WTF? I was so pissed, I took the note off the car and tore it up. Do people down here really think they’re so high and mighty?
So as you see, the arrogance cuts both ways. Following the above letter, a bunch of people wrote in to complain (as I just did) about what an idiot the person who wrote it was, and sticking up for handicapped people. So I guess that’s what ultimately prompted today’s letter from mister “We have to make compromises too by parking at the back of the lot, oh my aching feet!” The whole thing seems pretty screwed up to me.
Really, it all comes back to the “mind your own business” mantra. Do you know for a fact that the person you just saw getting out of that car in the handicapped spaces is handicapped? Not necessarily! But if you don’t know for certain, as long as they have the proper permit displayed on their vehicle it’s none of your damn business. But some people, like the guy who wrote the letter today, feel that “mind your own business” isn’t good enough. Behold the first paragraph of his letter:
I find that sentiments such as “mind your own business” and “don’t judge others until you have walked in their shoes” have been used rather selectively in recent weeks as pertains to handicapped access.
Yeah, they have—because they apply, turdfeed. Keep your snobby nose out of other people’s lives—is that so much to ask? I really am getting sick of people like you auditing every blessed thing they see based on your own relentless, idealistic moral code, then posting “report cards” on it in the local newspaper. God sakes, for all I know, the next time I take the Formula to the gas station, somebody might write me up for having a loud car.
Oh—speaking of “neighborhood regulations,” I took interest in a mailer we received this week from our community board of directors. The last time my friends from Michigan were down to visit, they parked their truck in my driveway. Some old man from another street got pissed about it. I still think it’s retarded that some old man actually cared so much about a damn truck that wasn’t even parked on his street, but according to this week’s letter from the management, now it is illegal to park ANY kind of pickup truck in your driveway overnight, EVER. Wow. And pickup trucks can be some of the hardest vehicles to fit in your garage. I guess this is like the elite, upper-class way of saying, “Trucks are for hicks, so don’t buy one because we don’t want to see them.” Another classic example of Homeowner’s Association living. Anything the association doesn’t want to see is not allowed. If my friends come back down to visit me, I’ll have to park my Trans Am in the driveway so they can keep their evil, nasty truck (albeit a smaller one than they had last time) in my garage. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!
Anyway, that’s the story for today. This rant has been brought to you by the letters STFU.
Categorized as Rants