The Ferrari is dead, long live the Ferrari

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.  It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.  You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

-Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird

So, my car got stolen on Thursday morning from a quiet by stretch of street near the Checkers on G and 14th NE. If you’re playing along at home, this is the fourth–count ‘em– fourth police report I’ve filed in 18 months.

Obviously, a reference to Dr. King's letter from Birmingham Jail after he was caught... carjacking for Civil Rights?

I was startled, sure, and greatly annoyed.  But not particularly surprised. I bought myself a cupcake and took the bus to my other job and waited for the cops to call and hoped it would all work out. They did… it didn’t.

The officer said they broke in with a couple of screw drivers and took a joy-ride to Maryland where they led the State Police in hot pursuit before slamming my car through a fence, blowing out the (new) tires and then trying to run.

I’m planning to FOIA the cruiser dash camera video just to have a good souvenir…

They weren’t looking for a way to get around or trying to sell it for money or parts. Not even for drugs, because at least drugs are a reason. They stole my car just to intentionally smash it up.

Because busting up an 11-year-old Ford Taurus the color of cough syrup is really the way to stick it to the man.

The cop told me it was “pretty beat up” but he didn’t mention three busted tires, both mirrors knocked off, chassis twisted and bent, ignition ripped out, door locks smashed and inspiring verses inscribed in the back seat.

I inherited “The Ferrari” from my mom in my sophomore year of college. It was banged up, the heater and defroster were terrible and it was always running out transmission fluid. It wasn’t a great car and I don’t like driving anyway. But I have to get to two different public transit-inaccessible jobs every day and at some point you’ve got to be practical.

I bought another car yesterday, an ‘07 Honda Civic, because I had to and because everything sort of fell into place with the financing and the price and even the color.

So, now I have a car payment. And two brand new screwdrivers (tags and all) and a large brick (not sure if they were planning to smash my windows or if they were just stealing part of someone’s house).

And I have a few words of wisdom, earned through my tenure as a cops reporter, a student of social science and a frequent victim of unlawful hijinks:

Resign yourself to this. We’re not playing by Omar’s rules here– we are all in the game now. Those kids are young and angry and now they’ll go to jail. Because they did something wrong, but also because they’re probably poor and black and have been failed by the educational and social systems in a city full of polished marble and shiny BMWs where we spend 7 hours in shrewd political maneuvers over budget reconcilliation instead of how best to provide health care to sick people.

Because hope at the ballot box doesn’t equate change in the South East any more than tea party politics help me get a job with benefits and pay my student loans.

When those kids get out of jail, they’ll be slightly older and more angry and probably addicted to drugs. And they’ll be unable to find work and unable to get rehab and when my new car gets stolen I’ll know that we were all holding that screw driver.

I have advice for the car thieves, too. Don’t ever, ever, ever run from the cops.

Robbin’ people with a six gun,
I fought the law and the law won.
I fought the law and the law won.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 10:53 am and is filed under wealth, wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.