Katrina evacuees trash new house

[Johar]

This just makes me sick! Here people went above and beyond to help and they trash the place. Sheesh!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1530896/posts

 

[~Muffin~]

They should have never helped those worthless ungratfeful animals. They lost everything and these people gave them a new house out of the kindness of their hearts and went through so much trouble and those worthless animals destroy it. This is almost vandalism to me. Put them in the poor house! :disagree: ​

 

[dlkksk8fan]

Scum is always scum no matter where you put it. It's a shame these people felt imposed upon by someone trying to do them a favor. I'm sure they would of felt differently if the house was theirs and someone trashed it. What a bunch of slackers.

 

[R.D.]

Well, on a lighter note- how do I know this is a skating board? Look at the misspelling of "Katrina" in the title.

Back on topic- It's easy for us to label such people "scum" but I like to look at both sides of the story before coming to a conclusion. I found this last part interesting:

Therein might lie the problem, said psychologist Harald Graning of Confidential Counseling of Westminster.

While the Browns might look like the ultimate ingrates, their response is not unnatural, he said.

"Suppose that you were living your life," he said, "and all of a sudden God came down and destroyed your house? You'd probably be pissed."

The anger that people feel under such circumstances needs to be vented and often isn't.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming generosity of others can backfire by intensifying the recipient's sense of anger and helplessness.

"You are forced to accept charity," he said. "It's demeaning."

Doing good makes the benefactor feel better, not the person being helped, he said. When the person on the receiving end can't repay the kindness and feels compelled to feel appreciative, he or she can become extremely frustrated. Acting out can occur.

Church members trying to make sense of the situation shouldn't feel rejected or upset their gifts were rejected, he said.

Hmm. That I would never have thought about. One just never knows what's going through these poor people's minds.

 

[skatergirlaj]

When people do stuff like this,it makes others who are in need look bad also.Those who aren't trashing houses. my MIL is living in a friends house right now. From what she's said,it is a very....humbling experience,to be someone who has never needed help,and to find yourself standing in a Red Cross line...to be standing in line to get food etc...I think she's made peace with it now.But alot of these people still aren't out of the woods financially.

 

[NJSk8Fan]

Someone I know from another forum shared this story. She lives in the general area it happened and in fact, IIRC, she belonged to the church organization that donated the house or something to that effect.

The worst thing about the "victims" reacting badly to help is that it makes those that can help hesitant to do it for the next person, who may be totally grateful for the help.

 

[R.D.]

The worst thing about the "victims" reacting badly to help is that it makes those that can help hesitant to do it for the next person, who may be totally grateful for the help.

That's also very true.

 

[heyang]

There are 2 sides to every story. If the family was followed around and spied upon, it would be very demeaning to them. It bugs me when my mother visits and pokes around my stuff - I'd be even less thrilled if it was strangers doing this.

It was Joey Tribiani who said that no good deed is selfless. The giver usually gets hailed as a hero and this unintentionally makes the recipient feel powerless and/or worthless. Noone intends this, but it is a case of the have's and the have-not's.

 

[KBell]

Link To Actual Article

From Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/carroll/bal-md.ca.house02dec02,1,7462167.story?track=rss

Gives more factual info than the link from the Free Rebublic. It does indeed seem like there were 2 sides to this story. Not condoning what they did at all, but as I from and currently live in the Hurricane Area (New Orleans) and staying w/a friend until my own home is repaired, I see how this can occur. No one likes things given to them w/strings attached especially people under great amounts of stress.

 

[guinevere]

From Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/carroll/bal-md.ca.house02dec02,1,7462167.story?track=rss

Gives more factual info than the link from the Free Rebublic. It does indeed seem like there were 2 sides to this story. Not condoning what they did at all, but as I from and currently live in the Hurricane Area (New Orleans) and staying w/a friend until my own home is repaired, I see how this can occur. No one likes things given to them w/strings attached especially people under great amounts of stress.

Thanks for posting that link. Again, I'm not excusing the trashing of the house, or the son's spray-painting (although it appears he is accepting resposibility), but when I first moved to Seattle, I was fortunate enough to have been put up for 3 weeks my a friend's dad and stepmom, for free. It was very generous of them, and I was quite appreciative. But after 2 days, my friend told me that her stepmom told her to tell me that I needed to unpack my clothes instead of piling my luggage in the closet, and that I needed to make my bed fully every morning. They were worried that my luggage (stacked one on top of the other) would scratch the paint on the back wall of their closet, and theyb were not ok with me pulling the cover up over the bed (I was 21, I admit bed-making wasn't on the top of my list). Clearly, my hosts were coming into "my" room while I wasn't there, which freaked me out. I adhered to their conditions, but I felt very disrespected. I offer this only as an example of generosity crossing over into stewardship. I will always be grateful for the kindness I received from my friend's family, but I did not feel welcome at all while I was there once I realized that they were entering my space when I was not there.

 

[R.D.]

Interesting story. Nice to hear the "other side".