Why We Pay Taxes

We have an elderly neighbor who lives right next door who I generally see everyday getting in and out of his car, fiddling around in his yard or he comes over just to converse. Though we have not lived here very long, we got to know this gentleman well enough to know that he lives alone, never married and has no immediate family as to check up on him. Our neighbor is in his eighties and from what I have noticed of him, he is very independent. So when I noticed that his mail and daily newspapers remained on his front doorstep for the last four days, I became a little concerned and mentioned it to Bill. I also noticed that what I thought was his car remained parked in the same space this entire time. What to do?

Bill went over to his house and knocked on his door, checked to see if his front or back door was open then knocked on another neighbor's door who has lived here much longer than us to verify if that car parked across the street was indeed his. It was.

Where was our neighbor? And where did he go without his car? Is he in the hospital? I have been home this week and have not seen or heard any emergency vehicle that may have come to his door. We could break into his house but we would be arrested for "breaking and entering". My fear is that he died in his own house or has been hurt and is unable to contact help. So, Bill called our local police department and asked them if they could check on this elderly gentleman.

That was four hours ago and still there is no sign of anyone in law enforcement at this man's house. What really bothers me about this situation is "we live in the safest neighborhood in the city with the lowest crime rate". So where are the police? Why is it taking so long for them to get here? This could mean the difference between life & death for this man if he was hurt and in need of medical care. Is it not their job to protect its citizens? If we could get in that house, we would check ourselves.

This is our tax money being well spent. This is the kind of country we live in today. The hell with the very young and the very old for they have the least amount of Civil Rights. This being said, I want to take this opportunity to say that my older brother Michael was once a Philadelphia Police Officer who later became a Detective before he retired two years ago and if he was the one to receive such a call, he would have been at this man's house in a heart-beat.

If he still lived here and not in Knoxville, TN., I would have called him for his advice and help in this matter. And I have no doubt, he would have made a few calls and someone would have been here by now.

I can only hope our dear neighbor is away on some exotic fun trip and not dead or dying in his own home.