Small Cruelties

Sometimes, in any culture, there is cruelty, some of them stick in my mind.

Oem
Oem in the young teenager who lives near us, she is partially disabled, she walks with a limp and one arm is partially paralyzed. Today is children's day so we bought something for her, some clothes, when we went over to give them to her she was not there, her grandmother yelled a couple time for her and she came out, she was crying. We gave her the clothes, and then left. Her grandmother said that Oem talked back and her grandmother told her "You are acting just like your mother" The thing is, her mother is an alcoholic and a street person, she visits rarely. When she comes here she drinks and is very loud.

Dog's in a Box
Stey, a person who I like, he lives in Juke's families "compound". His two daughters are wonderful young professional women. At the front of the compound there is a box with three dogs, small curly haired dogs. You can tell when a stranger comes by the path because they bark loudly. The dogs, as far as I can see, are never let out of the box. The box is covered up or opened up, they are great for protecting the home and warning of strangers. There is another dog, of similar breed, that is let loose and is a nice dog.

Stey's Dog
Under Stey's house, which is over water, there is a small platform. There is a nice looking red dog that lives on the platform, he is on a short chain. Anytime anybody walks by he barks and snarls viciously, his lips curl back from his teeth, he looks like he will attack. I stopped and talked with the dog awhile; "good dog", "I am not going to hurt you", "it's OK" etc, the dog calmed down, but if I made movements he snarled again. If Stey is there he will just yell at the dog and it will stop growling, he usually sits above the dog on a deck. The dog is crazy, driven crazy. There are kids around the area and the dog is probably dangerous. he looks dangerous. I do not know enough about dog's to help calm it down or to get it back into a civilized behavior.