You don't need a gun to rob me

Upon reading the influx of letters regarding recent incidences of crime near campus, I feel led to offer a different perspective. Crime is often an economic problem. As the economy worsens, crime increases. With lack of jobs and other alternatives, people become desperate, and resort to crime. Previous submissions have implored local law enforcement to improve their efforts. Since this has already been done, I address this letter to the criminals.
As a child growing up in Atlanta, my house was robbed a few times. We never had cash in the house, and computers and televisions were too large for petty thieves to carry, so we were out less than fifty dollars after those incidences. The only items robbers ever took with them were VCRS and boom boxes. If we were never robbed, we would probably never have upgraded to DVD and CD players, and I would still be listening to mix tapes on cassette and watching VHS movies. (My parents now live in the suburbs and will probably never upgrade to Blue Ray). The reason I can talk about these few incidences so lightheartedly is that they weren’t armed robberies.
No one can convince me that firearms are necessary to rob a Georgia Tech student. What are we going to do to you, gouge your eyes out with a mechanical pencil? I’ve never heard of anyone dying from getting hit in the back of the head with a TI-89. Simply demanding that I empty the contents of my purse is sufficient. Georgia Tech has a disproportional amount of asthmatic nerds, why bother using a gun? If I were robbed on my way me from the library at night I would consider that a bad day. If you robbed me at gunpoint, I would suffer a traumatic experience that would probably blight any good memories I may have of Tech. Plus, the punishments for armed robberies are much more severe; why take on the unnecessary risk. Sure, we may have a few standout athletes on campus that might give you a run for you money (no pun intended) if you try to rob them, but my guess is, you won’t find athletes walking home from the library at two o clock in the morning. While I don’t condone crime, it is a nearly unavoidable negative externality of an economic downturn. However, the unnecessary use of firearms is bad for the robber (more risk of jail time) and the victim.

Flowers for the living

My Nana always tells me that she wants her flowers while she is living and thus requests that money not be wasted on such a frivolity at her demise. Makes sense to me, why purchase a legion of flowers for a corpse that will get no enjoyment from them? In light of the recent demise of the King of Pop, I wish he had been able to enjoy his flowers while he was alive. At the age of fifty, Michael Jackson still seemed to be attempting to live out the childhood that was robbed from him. He was both a brilliant businessman (purchased the Beatles collection), and a four year old boy (spending millions on the Neverland ranch); nothing in between. He was both brilliant and bizarre. However, it is refreshing to see that the most of the world is taking time to appreciate the revolutionary talent that he was. As the reigning King of pop, he defined popular music as a unifying entity; whether black, white, brown, or purple, you listened to Michael Jackson and marveled at his gravity defying dance moves. While I am glad that many are taking time to appreciate this talent rather than focusing on some of the controversy that surrounded him, I wish he had the opportunity to feel this appreciation during the latter parts of his life.
I remember watching a Michael Jackson CBS live special in high school. I think I was freshman or sophomore at the time. Watching him glide across the stage was perhaps the most exhilarating thing I have ever seen. I remember going to school the next day and noticing that that performance the main topic of conversation. My classmates were just as blown away as I was. Simply put, his performances were sheer genius, which is something I always admired. However, I admire the genius of others every day. Whether it be a colleague that is great at their job, a stranger that gives you their seat on the bus, a friend that always puts together a great outfit, a mother that prepare ridiculously delicious cuisine, or a father that his always there for his kids, we witness something we admire every day. So, I challenge you to tell the people around you why you admire them, before it’s too late. Give your flowers to the living; what good are they to the dead?