It's Wrong

   As we left Door County yesterday, we stopped to do a few things we had not had time to do during the week. One of those things was to stop at a shop where they make and sell maple syrup. We've stopped there every year to buy syrup. Usually we have to ring a bell and an elderly woman comes out to sell us what we want and chat a little bit. This year the store was open and we saw two people near the door. One of them was an elderly man who was probably the woman's husband and the owner of the farm. The other was a younger woman  probably his daughter.
  The younger woman led us into the small shop and took her place behind the counter.We were correct in that that this was the daughter of the couple who own and still run the farm. We asked after her mother and were told that she was suffering with dementia. C had suspected something was up last year and mentioned it,but I wasn't prepared for what the woman said next. She said that her mother would still sometimes go to the shop and do "bad things". What kind of bad things could an elderly woman do? I was about to find out.
  What the elderly woman did was to sell things to people and not take payment for them. Sometimes she would write down their names and tell them to send a check. Sometimes she wouldn't write the names down. The daughter said that they might never get things straightened out. Many people who had taken things from the shop did send payment. There were, however, several who did not. One of those people had taken about $800 dollars worth of product from the shop and there was no record of who got it. To make matters worse, the woman said, a neighbor knew what was going on and said nothing. The woman was clearly frustrated and upset. It's hard enough to cope with the fact that a close family member is slowly fading way. It';s even worse when a business is involved. They had tried to find someone that would work in the shop, but no one was willing to work for what they could afford to pay. The woman had to stay there all day without days off or a break of any sort.
  I was instantly mad clear though. Few things bother me more than people who take advantage of others. It's worse when the person taken advantage of is elderly. Taking advantage of someone who is weaker is one of the cruelest things one person can do to another. It's wrong. Period.
  I'm sure some of those people were going to send payment but either forgot or lost the paper with the amount to be paid. I'm guessing some of the might have felt that if the elderly woman did not send a bill or get payment at the time of "purchase" it's her problem. They are not at fault.
  That's an attitude that I see sometimes these days. The attitude that it is alright to take things. It takes many forms. Sometimes it is borrowing without asking or taking without asking. Sometimes it's shoplifting. The one that gets me are people who think it is all right to burn off copies of music CDs to give to family and friends. That's not stealing and everyone does it. After all Taylor Swift, James Taylor, Brad Paisley are all pretty rich so they won't even notice the loss. That doesn't matter. It's still stealing.
  I believe that part of this is due to the culture we live in. We don't know our neighbors much less care about them and as far as those who are not in our group of family or friends, well, we don't care about them either. Why should we? They don't care about us. Besides that they are racist, homophobic, fanatical, right wing, left wing, nutcases. We do not want to associate with anyone like that.
  I really felt bad for the woman. It made me wish that we lived closer. C would love working in the shop. He'd probably like helping out on the farm during sugaring time too.  I hoped that they would find someone to help out out. We'll see when we come back next year.