~James
Greetings Jim,
It’s been a long
time since we spoke last and I've been meaning to message you.
What prompted me to
contact you today is regarding something which happened yesterday that I wanted
to share with you and the other Buyu. This is the type of thing that I would
have discussed at length with Mark (Hodel).
Yesterday, about
1pm my wife (a stay at home mom), was vacuuming on the second floor of
our home. Our kids were at school and aside from our adult black lab, she was home alone. Our vacuum is a Kirby and is pretty loud, so
it’s hard to hear much while it’s running. However, she was interrupted by
our dog barking on the first level. She looked out the front window and was
surprised to see a large Penske truck (the size typically used for moving from
one residence to another) backed into our driveway. She then went down to the
first floor to put the dog in his cage and retrieve one of my .45s, noticing a
black male had exited the driver side door. He lingered around the truck while
smoking a cigarette. At this time she could see that there was another male in
the passenger side with his cap pulled down possibly to cover his face,
apparently talking on a cell phone. She immediately called the police.
Her
personal impression was that the driver appeared to be very shady looking,
possibly nervous. She was pretty sure the driver saw and heard our dog’s loud
barking at them through the glass windows at either side of the front door.
Going back upstairs (armed), she waited for the police to arrive. While
waiting, she noticed a van pull up at a neighbor’s house with business markings
of an HVAC service on it. Fortunately, the presence of activity at my
neighbor’s house seemed to prompt the characters in my driveway to get in their
truck and leave. Unfortunately, this all happened before the police arrived
some ten minutes later. If you recall we live on a wooded, dead end road, which
is past a curve, making it hard to see our house until you are right in front
of it.
A few
things we've discussed since then. We are grateful that ultimately
nothing happened and no one was hurt. This is the standard MO for a home
robbery. Sometimes if burglars are surprised by a woman at home alone, she is
beaten or killed to shut her up and often raped. We are grateful to have had
the foresight to place firearms in speed safes in multiple locations within our
home. We are grateful that we both have permits to carry concealed. We are
grateful that even though we are trying to train our dog to not bark, that he
was barking at these characters at this time. We are grateful that our
neighbor’s furnace died the night before and as a result, he had come home to
meet with the repair service at the time this was happening.
Additionally, we
should not be lulled by the fact that we live in a peaceful, quiet secluded
neighborhood, where you would not expect any crime. My wife indicated that she
caged the dog, because she didn't want to be tripping over him or
shoot him if he got in the way. We decided that it would be better to leave him
free to attack or dissuade any intruder. If he got shot in the process of
defending our lives, he would get a hero’s burial. And finally, I will be
discussing this incident with all of our neighbors so that they all are aware
of the incident and hopefully it doesn't happen (or worse) to anyone
else on our street.
That is all for
now. See you at the Jack seminar my friend.
Bufu Ikkan
3 comments:
Is anyone else struck by the subtle (or not so subtle) racism of this letter? They could have been lost and calling for directions. They could have used your driveway because they couldn't make the turn at the end of the street in a large truck.
That being said, calling the police was the right course of action. It's still suspicious.
Is this a story that needs internet notoriety, though?
Nothing happened.
It's our job as martial artist to handle this situation rationally, and without fear. Don't you think?
I am struck by the detail of the letter. If I call the police, and report "a guy" parked in my driveway, what may be the first question they ask me after they get my address? Explaining details of a situation is not in my opinion racist. The nature of our biology makes us suspicious, it is often our suspicion that may keep us safe, if not alive. I also don't see anything that is irrational. Two additional thoughts: If the letter was from a neighbor to me, and the description was as stated, a defining characteristic was relayed. And I may use that characteristic to help watch over my neighborhood, not racism. Also, there is only one mention of race, and only of one person in the driveway.
Signed,
James Howard
I also saw no racism in the letter. He was just describing what the person looks like. The police would want the same description. Would your opinion be different if he had said that it was a white male?
Rodger G.
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