George Anderson's Lessons from the Light 1999
by George Anderson and Andrew Barone
murder investigations for police and private citizens
Diary of Anne Frank jewish all denominations tho mainly catholic himself
after paralysis from childhood disease, became perhaps the poster child for Hollywood's catch phrase "I see dead people" Bruce Willis the 6th Sense
Boulder CO PD same bunglers as Jon Benet Ramsey (and all across nation)
DUI 1991
fine plus community service plus initial arrest
told dad, "I'd shoot myself before I'd go to jail--even for one night,"
also numerous times, "I'd rather die than spend even one hour in jail"
jail was a "fate worse than death"
Erin and Daniel Tomcheff, Theon
1993
attempted citizens arrest of burgler at their home
parents talked him out of it from fear, no 911 call
drunk burgler called cops and lied of his crime in revenge
cops invaded house and ordered family out under threat of immediate death
entered home and conducted search without warrant
theon asked, "why am i going to jail?"
cops gave detailed legal response, "this is a felony--very serious--you have to come to jail"
cops ordered theon to get his gun
grabbed his gun, cocked it, put it to his head and pulled the trigger
died in front of 2 female cops and his mom
dad ran to help his son and was clubbed in the head by female cop
interrogated for hours by detectives in jail house
"his dread of police jail and the 'justice' system. That is the monster that took his life!"
Parents both considered suicide, but prevented by mom:
"The police and others in our society who control our lives would never be held accountable for what happened that early morning if we did not, somehow, stay alive and see that justice was done."
JOKE OF THE DAY
Contents
0ftlac ap'athy oi thc)se sc ho()l ;~dministr;m)rs wilt) were ill authority. Wc m~nwlhing bm] h;q~pcrlud, and lie was ;llrilit_t they \\crc xoinx to
c,,,nu ti,,' him ag;lin, l)id hc have trouhlu with drink? Ye and nog" "Well, I think lhat', rixhr." "lhn hu', n,,, ;m ;dc,,h~,ll~."
'1 It' dr;ink l~, excess h,r him. [~,tIt that was xlso chart\ins."
%'uah, ;md he mi\hi have been 'nailed' I;m'usted il/ thu p;ist bec:nl~,c et itl. Did
hu hnvc ;~ I'~WI or s,,nerhi,/x?""Yes, hu did."
"ltu ;idlnits that hu Md ~,~,mcthing like that burl,re, and this was hi, fir,t runin with ilium, ~,t~ hu leuIs tilt' lc'ar that they're cumins for him. Like ltvins in Ri;fi
( ;urn\my, 'When are they ~oin~ lo COiI]C illltl get I/It.~'' ¥(}U know. That's' the tcdII/~ lh;ll lht,\/'Dt' :dways on I/is ciisc. [ will tull x.'t~/, one thinx, and I can't Name him. It's n~q th;il he's ilh'ili~.{ ;tllVlilOl'C, but Ilo still has a lre:tkin~ attitude toward t hCill."
"Stlrc, ] \Yinlid, h}o."
"As lit' discussus it, I t.'ill/ tull that |his is ,>lie tmrl of him that hils llOt spu'itually j~l'l~Zi-c~-,st'd yet. It's lust like, 'Well i have no use tbr those kind el people,' :md lit' hns l/t! Xyml';ilhy ltl\Vill'd them. A5 far ;is h,:'s CtllqCOl'lletl, ;lllVJ~odV that wear~, a unih)rm ill ;tn ;ibusive ~r har;~ssin~ manner, \\hcfher they be ;igcnl:', tel' thc govCl'lll//CI/t iii' ttlr tilt' h,c;fi police tbrcu, hc it,st bm, no usu f'or those killti of people, tit' has nt, respelt h,' thcln, lie sense of dignity townrd them. It's Araest like i'm ,uumx IJu~su 'Pr~ud iff' t~t,r Ptqice' bunlpcr stickers, illltl he's like, 'Oh, plum, e! i
Ii;wu n~ tlsu h,r lhesu pul,pie.' And he ;idmit~ this ms a spiritu;d tlim, Ix.< mtsu }lc lUr, t r(,unds lhum up ,n t,/c <;lleMt,'y to him, they ;irc hcnc;~th ct,nrutnl~t. S,~ hc
st;Ill'",, Ill tilllei' \Viil-d',, lh;ll Ilo kl/oWS rhxt he'~, ~,)lll~ tO hilVC 'fO \\'t ~l'k thi, out. ]~ut lit' l-c;ll[¥ ~tt.exn't \\';lilt ltl riMhi now. tit's kind t)t holdmx on ti, rix. l-i~hl Ilt~\\' [~C'
I
cause his lc'ar ~m the eanh has become annoyance ii1 tile hercafrer--ahnost like, 'I Iow dare tilese people, rilesc little God Ahni~hty's have done this to me:' Not t]/:lt it's upsellinM him over there, wi/ere he can't function and be happy, but he adlni;x- --ri~hl now he holds 'a ~rudge. It's just that he knows what they've put you thr~u~h, and he knows tll',ll you have no respect for them either, and he says thai hc just ibcIs rt~:l~ he was raped, and that you, too, were raped by tllc ss/stem. He says Illat he has riel yet fbr~iven, and he knows it's wron~, but lac says, 'I have to be honest with you, I just haw' lie use for those kind of people.' His attitude is that every lime they screwed him, it was 'always 'You're ~zuilty. We Sot you, no matter wh'm.' T,~ make a name tk)r themselves, it was tit his cxpense and his fannlv's expense. But in any case, does tile name Bob tlr Robert mean :mythrog? ]dc does call out ht friends, ~r pe~ple hc thtm~zht were tricnds, because he IbcIs that a lot et per,pie kind et let Iiiil/down, too. They were there tot him and they weren't. }de says n,~ reflect i{~n ~)n you---you're his parents and he loves you--but he says, 'I'll 5~) ~hld 1(~ Ix' away fr~/m here. It wasn't tbr me, it was a constant struggle.' Toe
kn()w, it's ~fiwi~,us as l'll/talking to him, the guy is not a troublemaker or iu%'thil'~g.
l lc seems like :1 very Iiice k~uy to mc, it just seems that he's the pawp. in evers body elso's chess gill/lC. This is the first tune I've ever heard this, but he ~,ilys Ilo c;Inllot in ills be'art :md s~)u} ~ver rilere honestly ask you to forstye them, he says, 'Because I haven't.'"
"()h, Ih:It's g(x)d. That's what 1 wanted to know."
"l lc says, '1 h:wen't' i/nd he says he knows it's wrong. He says, '1 know it'~ a spiritual flaw, bul I'm not ready ft/r it yet.' He just cannot forgive them for pickin~
,~n him t~ tile t~oint thai they drove him re this. ]de says, :is Jill' ils he's COl-lCerlled,
they murdered l/ilil.""They did."
"Ami he says, 'I'm not going tt~ deny this, they murdered me and they mtn'dercd the tw~ (al'you.' He says, 'They ripped your hearts t)tll,' ]'~y constantly puttin~ him thr~xLgh Il/is, ;llld Ilo says, 'l have iqor fk/rgiven yeI.' He says, 'Maybe someday
i will, Jml not now.' He's not re',tdy ik>r it yet, illlc{ llt/}3('ldy forces you to do :lnythitqg lpg,er IBcre 'fillil yeti dOll'l WHllt rtl do. P, ut on the other hill/a, he does say to you hc
i5 sate, he's tree from fear and hc says hc is happy :md ',it peace h/r your sakes, t {c 5:lys thai, tx'cause it's true, and :llst/ to make you /~'el better. But he says, '"X/c ;dj have an iix to grind witlq them, don't we?' And th:it hasn't ch:ul~ed on his part ctthor. But ax:mu he extends white ri/scs re the two of you its a spiritual Iqes~ing and s:lys Ih:ti he's k~dng t~) si~n el} bec:rose--you know, it's ttllMly, I~o\\' that I knox\ wh;ll it's ;ill aha)tit, [ know why it took st~ lomz, because he wasn't even c~mlh>rtable
t;dkm~.ab~ut il. Jusl I~ brin~ up thc memory oftho~c t'~'pcs a~',/in '[3o i have
to.~' but lit' lalwW lis' Illid ti), to put you all at rest ',md lo t'~c'[p himself try t,, undc|'st;md it even llltq-(' St) I~OW, bocarisc x'ot] can foci he rcco~n[:c~ thc v:dt[c of it.
C)nc rimlo ab,)ut him, he's not ~/li~r. t lc'Il call a spade a spade, and if hc'~ not rc:/d~ to fi~r~lvc yet, I believe he's not. 1 a~rcc with you all, 1 can? s~v I }~[ill/iC him. Some
l~r[3k'S ()[ pC~'plc arc it,st [lac scum of Ihe earth. They're useless, put ha :1 unitorn~, :lml Ihmk They ~u&tcnly beet,mc unportm/t. Well, maybe someday they'll and out how insi~nlfic'ant they 'arc, [~Ut Ila ally case, ]he extends white I-OSCS, bCC~/tI',C lac $:l\'h
he's ~,in~ t() ,,irry, Ill;Il lit' ix all riMhi. And he s~q's th~t hc is all right and at peace and ireed
h'¢llll ICiIF, hill I/c ,,;lyS It) C{)l/llllllC [() pl-;IV [})1-]~inl. Until wc meet :l~:/in, just know
th:. he's with yt~u and with tll~r lac siMns off', thc others do, ri)o--there they ~o,
~ll/cJ ii\ViP/ Jif \Vt'lit
Copyright John Lee 1999, 2000. Quotations of less than 500 words may be taken from this site with attribution and without prior permission. All rights reserved.
