There are many things I love about my new home town, Wauwatosa. I love that people take their landscaping very seriously here and so many streets are just out of Frances Burnett novel minus the secret part. I love that we can walk up to the Locals and get excellent food and be greeted with hugs and jokes. I love that people walk here, everyone takes walks. Coming from the heat of Texas where very few crazy people walk, it is a treat to say “howdy” to so many different neighbors each day as they take a walk.
I love the schools that is within walk/bike distance for Oz who’s 6th grade teachers were stern, but kind, when Oz needed to get on track with some work. I love Bigg’s family who is fun and enveloping in their craziness and who’s energy is almost always loving. Of course I love being with my Bigg guy each day and we treasure our time together as our start was long distance which got pretty tough at times.
I love being closer to my twins so seeing them every six weeks or so is reality and I get to check in on them without the 17 hour drive. I love Lake Michigan, new friends, good beer and Whiskey and McBob’s. Love it all.
However…
There is one thing about the little world of Wauwatosa that is so puzzling to me, and on this day, has me up in arms. It is the naivete’ that bad things don’t happen in this town. Weekly break ins? Doesn’t exist if you don’t want to read the reports. Carjacking? Not in our town, only it happens in our town. Up the street three blocks actually. Police reports said so. For real. Gun hold up at local SuperAmerica? Yup. Three blocks away, but try to tell that to someone who’s lived here their whole life and they will flat out deny that anything like that can happen.
But this? This takes the cake. See, this man took his new girlfriend to his house three blocks away from us after already beating her for two hours and continued to beat her. She was sexually assaulted and eventually hospitalized for five days. When the local “Patch” posted this story, the good people of Wauwatosa were outraged. At the victim.
Why in the world didn’t she do a background check on her new boyfriend? Surely no one dates anymore without doing a background check? Must be her fault for the beating. Because surely nothing so hideous happens here in Wauwatosa without someone bringing it on themselves. Right? Fok!
I will say this, if you have been fortunate in life as to not be exposed to the ugliness of others, I’m happy for you. You have lived a charmed life and I hope you understand that. But to DENY that bad shit goes down in perfectly fine homes is naive, ignorant, and stupid. Don’t be stupid. As much as you want to be thankful you have dodged certain bullets in life, be aware that others haven’t. The world view here is very narrow for so many I’ve come in contact with, it’s mind boggling.
So for those people who believe that their rose colored glasses are shielding them from an unpleasant reality, grow up. There’s a big, bad world out there and you need to know how to deal with it when it comes knocking at your door. And if you’re one of the crowd who is of the belief that any woman deserves a five hour beating that includes sexual assault merely because she wasn’t as smart as you to get a background check? Well, that’s on you. You just put that toxic energy out in the world and to think it won’t come back to you in some way is just as ignorant as thinking bad things don’t happen in your little town. Good luck with that.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King, Jr
tosabarbell 