Love Story, the movie, was a popular tear-jerker, first screened in 1970. And if you saw it then, or now, you will cry. I promise.
That was then, as a tearful Oliver (Ryan O'Neal) tells his love, Jenny (Ali McGraw) who is in the hospital dying of cancer, "I'm so sorry."
"Love... " she clasps his hand and whispers bravely, "is never having to say you are sorry." (Cry here.)
So is it true that love means never having to say you are sorry? My 98 year-old mother had a take on that. She roused suddenly from a catnap in her wheel chair and said, "You know that story... when the man says, 'I will fall into your arms and there I will gladly die'? "
"Yes mom," we agreed.
"That's a lot of crap."
Really, she said that. And yes, she was a beloved character.
Is it true that love is out and revalued as "Money (not love) means never having to say you are sorry?" You may be right mom. At least it seems that way.
Want proof... as if you need it?
You may not recall the name Ethan Couch, AKA: the "Affluenza Teen.' Here is Wikipedia's summation of what he did on the evening of June 15, 2013
... according to authorities and trial testimony, 16-year-old Couch was witnessed on surveillance video stealing two cases of beer from a Walmart store then speeding off with seven passengers in his father's red 2012 Ford F-350 pickup truck.
Approximately an hour after the beer theft, Couch was going 70 miles per hour on rural, two-lane Burleson-Retta Road where motorist Breanna Mitchell's sport utility vehicle had stalled. Hollie Boyles and her daughter Shelby, who lived nearby, had come out to help her, as had passing youth minister Brian Jennings. Couch's truck swerved off the road and into Mitchell's sport utility vehicle, then crashed into Jennings' parked car, which in turn hit an oncoming Volkswagen Beetle. Couch's truck then flipped over and struck a tree. Mitchell, Jennings, and both Boyles were killed, while Couch and his seven teenage passengers, none of whom were wearing seat belts, survived—although one was paralyzed—as did the two children in Jennings' car and the two people in the Volkswagen.
Three hours after the incident, the teen-ager had a blood alcohol content of 0.24%, three times the legal limit for adult drivers (21+ years old) in Texas, and he also tested positive for marijuana and diazepam.
So did they throw the book at him? Hardly. In trial testimony, a psychiatrist said that growing up with money might have left Couch with psychological afflictions, too rich to tell right from wrong. Then, free on bond, he and his mother fled to Mexico in an effort to evade sentencing, which for the teen-ager, could have been as much as 20 years in prison.
His attorney urged probation, because "he (Couch) was too rich to know what he did was wrong. He was unable to link his actions to consequences because of his parents teaching him that wealth buys privilege." Oh, really?
When Couch and mom were caught and returned, he spent two-years in a state-owned inpatient mental health facility.
So justice (?), was served, right? Ask those who lost loved ones. Ask MAAD.Now here is the "money means never having to say you are sorry" comes in. When rich, you might virtually bear no responsibility. You can get away with almost anything... unless you are also stupid.Yes, they were filthy rich.
Elsewhere, there are non-rich people pulled over by police for perhaps a broken tail light or a double yellow line violation or maybe just looking suspicious, and hurt no one, but pay with their lives.
Mr. Sobolewski doing 43 cents worth of time.
Here is what can happen when you are very opposite of rich:
Joseph Sobolewski was arrested a few month ago after he underpaid for a bottle of Mountain Dew at a Pennsylvania convenience store
The store sold two 20-ounce bottles of Mountain Dew for $3. Sobolewski, wanting only one, put $2 on the counter, took the drink and left the store. But he didn't realize that a single bottle of Mountain Dew was priced at $2.29 plus tax, which meant that he had underpaid by 43 cents. Sobolewski didn't know he underpaid as he thought one Mountain Dew would cost half ($1.50) of the $3.00 price and the two dollars would cover the tax.
The store called the police, who arrested Sobolewski, charging him with a felony under the state's "three strikes" law for retail theft.
Since this was Sobolewski's third offense (with two other petty crimes over the past decade) he was held on a $50,000 cash bond which he couldn't meet, and spent seven days in jail before a public defender got him released pre-trial.
The charge carries a prison sentence of 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison per the state's "get tough on crime" law.
A Pennsylvania State Police spokeswoman said that a third retail theft offense is automatically treated as a felony, regardless of the dollar amount. “Troopers cannot decide to not charge someone for a criminal case, only victims of certain crimes can decline charges,” she wrote in a statement.
Ultimately, the State showed some sense and dropped the charges, perhaps because of all the bad press, and obviously, it was an embarrassment.
Then there is BIG BUSINESS AND EXXON is BIG!
"Did we join some shadow groups to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, that's true... but there's nothing illegal about that. We were looking out for our investments, we were looking out for our shareholders."
Obviously, we could go on and on. But you get the picture.
MONEY MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU ARE SORRY.
About LOVE, I'm sorry.
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Nicely done.
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