Quote:
He made an unwise choice in his hobby and in his lifestyle, and a number of lives were ruined as a result.
Dumpster Baby, I dearly hope you are posting here as a parody. If not--if you actually believe that this is Frederick's fault for choosing his perfectly legal botany hobby "unwisely"-- then you sicken me. You're a disgrace to American values, a pox on the idea of freedom, and not worthy to be called a free man. Crouch down, lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that you are my countryman.
I see you were born in 1980. I was born in 1948, and I've seen and experienced quite a bit more of how life works than you have. Grant me that, okay? I'm quite likely a lot more conservative than you are, but not
extremist in my views - there's a big difference.
My views on how to live are very simple - don't
display and
act out without taking into consideration the possible consequences. This is hard lesson to learn. You learn it by negative feedback of all sorts, and lumps, and losses, and regrets.
You don't leave valuables out on display in your car in the parking lot. Learned that the hard way. You don't wear inappropriate clothes for certain places and circumstances. Learned that the hard way. You don't act in an inappropriate manner in the wrong places. Learned that the hard way. You don't say inappropriate things in the wrong circumstances. Learned that the hard way. And so on and so on.
I've been acquainted with many hundreds of people in my life, and not a one of them had grow lights and water hoses in their house or garage, and many were avid gardeners or house plant enthusiasts. That stuff is very commonly used by pot growers. If you buy that kind of "paraphernalia", so to speak, you automatically bring yourself into association with the home pot growers. It's very uncommon for people to have that equipment at home. In the eyes of LEO's who find that equipment by any means at all, it raises questions. The goal here is not to raise questions in anyone's mind, not attract unwanted attention, not set yourself up for more attention that you might otherwise receive. Consequently, I will never buy any grow lights for home use, nor will I fool around with any plants that look kinda like marijuana. That is an incredibly simple concept to me - avoid having doper-related equipment and look-alike plants. DUH.....
It's not cowardice, as so many of you young hotheads state. It's common sense, like not leaving valuables on display in public or attracting unwanted negative attention by actions and demeanor. There are a lot of things you just don't do if you want to skate by without the hassle so many others invite upon themselves.
All my friends through life have either been LEO's or have had family members who were or are LEO's. I worked many years in cop shops. I've ridden along on patrol many times, and I kinda have some idea what cops look for, what attracts their attention, what makes them do a traffic stop or a pedestrian check. What attracts their attention is people who are
displaying and
acting out in ways that many people wouldn't even notice. Cops don't have to work hard at all finding people that need checking out - the fools are practically waving flags and shooting off flares that say "look at me!!".
Displaying takes many forms. Clothes, hair, motor vehicle, possessions carried or worn. Acting out takes many forms. Loud and rowdy, drunk and wobbly, zombied out, furtive movements, shifty eyes, all the standard cliches. It all adds up and it all matters. In all the ride-alongs I've done I've never seen a regular, normal person get hassled over anything. It's always the ones
displaying and
acting out, and they're almost always dirty. Carrying illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, illegal weapons, stolen property, have arrest warrants, etc. If they were only capable of going down the street looking and acting normally they wouldn't have been noticed, but they weren't capable of it. The cops I rode with would sometimes just empty the baggies of weed and powder on the street because it would just mean more paperwork than they already had to do on the fools.
I accept the "risk" of being checked out going to and from the range with my guns and ammo. It's an acceptable risk because it's all legal. What is NOT an acceptable risk is displaying guns in the front yard so that any passerby can take note of which house has the guns.
I also don't display guns and valuables to strangers or allow any known dopers and jailbirds in my home. I don't associate in any way whatsoever with dopers and jailbirds. One thing I read constantly on these boards is how the younger members don't see anything wrong with marijuana, and who knows what else. They think the drug wars should be abandoned completely. Well, I've witnessed far too much negative and destructive behavior in dopers to share that view. The ones I had the misfortune of having to work with over the years lived trailer trash lives, constantly in trouble, totally untrustworthy and undependable, you name it. To me it's totally absurd to have to tell a new hire that he can't come to work with spiked orange hair and wearing all those chains.
There's a whole lot of things that are perfectly legal to have, and to do, but
unwise to have and do. Anything doper related falls into that unwise category. It's advertising for trouble, trolling for trouble, and best of luck to ya. Let's hope your perfectly legal grow lights don't attract some dopers breaking in to steal your weeds. Let's hope they don't attract the attention of LEO's. Let's hope your "recreational" smoking of "totally harmless" weed doesn't end up causing you a lot of grief. It's your choice, your risk, your consequences and penalties, if any.
I live a life free of unwanted attention from anyone, and that's exactly the way I want it. A lot of what I have, and have done in life, would alarm a great many fine folks out there if they knew, but they wouldn't be able to pick me out of a crowd. They wouldn't notice me, wouldn't associate me with any thing or anyone. I don't
display or
act out and consequently lead a very peaceful life. I'm the Invisible Man, and nobody messes with me. I'm not going down, not taking a fall. I'll sit back and watch all the fools and hotheads get banged around by their foolishness. That's not cowardice, it's hard earned
wisdom.