Friday, April 25, 2008

Stupid Tax

Stupid Tax

 
I am not referring to Dave Ramsey’s “Stupid Tax,” i.e. mistakes that people make with money ultimately costs them much more than they anticipated.  In this instance, I am referring to what it costs to be stupid; specifically, what it cost someone because he 1.) made a poor decision; and 2.) likely did not exercise his spine.  The idea still applies in that being stupid generally costs much more than anyone anticipates, be it dollars or anything else.

 
A lady I know has a friend whose son had a friend who had Bad Friends.  (Please forgive the lengthy connection.  While this is an anecdote, the principle applies to many situations.)

 
The son’s friend called him at 3:00 a.m. last Saturday.  The friend had been gambling until then and needed a ride home.  There is nothing too awry so far.  While I am not a gambler nor do I stay out until 3:00 a.m., I would not refuse a friend who needed a ride.  I would berate him the entire ride home and make him think twice about calling me again – or better yet, about gambling until 3:00 a.m. again.  I would not refuse him though.

 
Upon arriving at the casino, his friend greeted him with the Bad Friends.  Instead of refusing to take them all, he agreed to drop them at their apartment.  Warning bells should have sounded by this time.

 
He took them to their “apartment” and then agreed to wait for them.  Why should he have waited for people he did not know at their own apartment?  Was he now a taxi service?  He was already inconvenienced once for the evening.

 
Obviously, it was not their apartment.  As it happened, it was a drug dealer’s apartment.  They were not there to rest their weary heads.  They were there to “score” some drugs.

 
The events that happened next are somewhat unknown.  What we do know is this:  Instead of the Bad Friends being grateful for the late night ride from someone they did not know, they decided they needed his money and car instead.  They killed him then used his money to buy the drugs and took his car to leave the scene.  He was 23 years old.

 
Here are his known mistakes:

  • He agreed to take several unknown people to an unknown location late at night.
  • He agreed to wait for them when it made no sense for him to do so.
  • He (presumably) had not armed himself.  He was 23 years old and in Louisiana; there was no reason for him to be unarmed. 
  • If he was armed, he did not take action when he should have.

 
The tax assessment here is death.

 The lessons learned are:

  • Tell your friend “no” when he asks if you will play taxi to a bunch of unknown people.
  • Listen to those “warning bells” inside your head.  If you do not have any, spend time with wiser people than yourself.
  • Arm yourself.
  • Defend yourself.

 

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2 comments:

Weetabix said...

Man, I hate hearing stories like this. Perhaps Friend was no friend, either.

Lesson 5 was: Choose your friends wisely.

Thud said...

they do say you can't escape death and taxes!....a hard lesson for this younf man to learn.