Do unto others...

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 653, 10 September 1996, Page 4

Do unto others...

• Thieves (burglars), bashers (abusers), intimjdators (mind bashers), and others looking for a 'five minute thrill', ('cause let's face it, that' s all you're gonna get), take.a good long look around you, what is it you see? Boredom, frustration, misery, jealousy, drugs, prison and much, much more in the eyes of sin, You make the boredom, because you can't get off your backsides and make a life for yourselves, without causing havoc for others. You set the frustration, because you can't get your

minds thinking actively. You create the misery, not upon yourselves, but upon everybody else you rip off, abuse and intimidate. Jealousy. You can't handle the fact that you're not able to get off your backsides and work for what you want. Drugs, a big cop out - the easy out, or is it? Prison-yeah, free board and lodgings, at whose expense - the victim? What is gonna be in the end. Who will suffer the consequences? Not you, but your children and their children. Look around you now, what do you see? Shops closing down, people leaving what was once a safe place to live in. You will continue to see this as time goes by. Who do you blame? The system, your parents, your (if you have any) friends, your neighbours. Do you bother to look hard at yourselves? Try it. You'd be surprised at what you may see. Underneath that exterior is a person created by God, to do right unto others as you would have them do unto you, created in his image you were. From the beginning of time you were loved, that is something that no man can take away from you, nor abuse you, or intimidate you for. I have a 1 7-year-old son, who is trying to make a life for himself. What possessions he has, he has had to work hard for, slogging his backside off in the gardens — rain, hail and sunshine. He would give you his last dollar if he saw a desperate need for it. He saw boredom but he did something positive about it. He saw frustration but he got his mind thinking actively, he had jealous thoughts but found a way to overcome that by working to get what he needed. Drugs — the door opened for him but he found another way of overcoming that too. Prison, he will never see the inside of one because he found God to be the only counsellor he would ever need in his life. Plus he has his family around him who love him and care for him. Yet someone did him an untimely injustice. His only means of cooking a hot meal for himself on the odd occasion, a 9kg gas bottle and a double cooker, was stolen from his room on a night he decided to go out with his friends. Was it a set-up? Why, what's he ever done to you people? Is it because he sticks to himself, is it because he found God, or is it because he works hard? Think of all those people you' ve hurt. The ones who work hard for what they want, the ones that are now leaving our small town, the same ones whd tried to help make our town a livable town, a safe town, a town away from the city, a town away from the hard cores of life. Look hard at what you're doing. Are you prepared to give back to those you have taken from, to make our town what it should be. Don' t begrudge the next person, encourage them, help them, look after one another. Look out for one another. Denise Perkins, Raetihi The Bulletin welcomes letters to the editor. While nom de plumes are accepted, we prefer that a letter is published with the name of the writer. Letters should be typed, written on one side of the page only. Letters must be signed as well as having the writer's name written legibly, along with a street address and contact telephone number. The editor reserves the right to abridge or reject letters.