I went to school with a tank of a young man. He played football and wrestled, and he was my pal.
Fairly quiet, he was a great audience, laughing easily, especially at jokes that had a tone of menace to them.
To those that didn’t know him, like a feral animal, he emitted something that made him a spirit to encounter only at a distance.
Whatever that aura was, it had worn off by the time he graduated high school and became one of our town’s entrenched homeless. I heard he had killed one of his ranks in a turf battle, another street-guy.
When that news was delivered, the first thing that came to mind was his Cheshire grin, signaling he knew more than he’d ever tell, and no force on this earth could ever make him tell.
That quality made him someone you could count on, the type of guy you wouldn’t mind having in a foxhole next to you.
Years passed, about a dozen, when I got a call from a mutual friend. He informed me that our killer had done it again.
Same M/O-he stabbed and mortally wounded a homeless confederate.
There is a memorable Oscar Wilde line, which says, roughly: “If you lose a parent it is a misfortune. Lose two, and it looks like carelessness.”
My old pal was looking suspiciously careless.
He avoided incarceration for the second killing, and a few years after that, I inconspicuously observed him panhandling in a seaside park.
Looking very healthy, and even youthful, he had obviously beaten the odds that peg a homeless person’s life expectancy at less than five years.
Nothing about him signaled his pugilistic past.
He seemed very comfortable in his skin, at peace in this tourist filled venue on a sunny afternoon.
I have attended high school reunions where I’ve mingled with The Night of the Living Dead, souls that didn’t have a trace of the mercury or ice water that still pumped though my buddy’s veins.
Did he murder those two guys? Were there others I didn’t hear about, unreported victims?
Or was it a matter of repeated acts of self-defense?
Who knows?
I’d give him the benefit of the doubt–and a very wide berth.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a top speaker, sales, customer service and negotiation consultant, attorney, TV and radio commentator and the best-selling author of 12 books, including MONITORING, MEASURING & MANAGING CUSTOMER SERVICE. He is the creator of Nightingale-Conant’s successful audio seminar: THE LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS: HOW TO MAKE SUCCESS INEVITABLE. He conducts seminars and convention presentations around the world and can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
His original class, “Best Practices in Negotiation,” is offered at UCLA & UC Berkeley Extension and at a number of other fine universities and organizations.
See: https://www.uclaextension.edu/r/Course.aspx?reg=U8637
Back with more news for you today. It’s amazing how much good information there is on this stuff out there if you know where to look. Three in particular that I found really valuable were…
Counterterrorism Adviser: Probe Anti-Terror Policy
The United States does have enemies out there who do wish to do it harm, Clarke says, “and we do need to act in our own self-defense, … Read More…
Face it: the police are above the law
White claimed he shot in self-defense. Any claim of self-defense in this situation is a tenuous one at best. Self-defense with deadly force is only … Read More…
Rod Blagojevich's lawyer—told Windy City Times that “the crux of our defense was self-defense.” When asked how he was able to convince the jury that 61 … Read More…
That’s all the news for today guys, so until next time, thanks for stopping by.
Yahoo! 404 – Page Not Found
Use the Escape key to return to the search box. Use the right arrow key to explore related concepts.
Use the Escape key to return to the search box. Use the left arrow key to return to the search suggestions. Use the up and down arrow keys to select concepts related to your query.
Popularity: 9% [?]
