Previously, persons here and there were given a chance to think about what is right and wrong; when I discussed the cases of an 75 year old man and 85 year old woman. Mr. Elias worked for 4 decades in the movies and had borne, raised his sons in the same house that they had (unfortunately), successfully schemed to toss him out of. Mrs. Goldstein had survived German racism by laying down with her son in a mound of dead bodies when everyone was shot in her town - men, women and children. G-d had laid the cases in my lap and I succeeded only termporarily, to spare them from their impending angst.
In both cases I came to realize that I did not like the people I was helping. Mr. Elias has too many bad traits to list here; to say it succinctly - his selfishness knows no boundries. Mrs. Goldstein desires also, to be the center of attention - and would feign illnesses; in order to get me to cater to her more. But it would not be right to abandon them, to become apathetic or obtuse - simply because they were not perfect.
Then Mr. Elias lost his house and went around to others taking out his anxieties upon me and told others I was the reason he lost and all I did was not pay rent (when I was sleeping on his floor to make him safe from his bullying sons) and ate his food (that my money purchased). While Mrs. Goldstein loves the place I move her to, she tells others I had abandoned her and nobody cares. She shut her phone off and tells the landlord there that I am causing her to be homeless soon. So I stopped trying to call her; until I watched the HBO special with Laurence Fishburne portraying former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Where I realized I am being a coward.
It is easy to ignore elders. They are old, cranky, demanding and have undue influence because of the political strength of pointing out the issue that we do not want anything to do with them - because they are old. So we simply can choose to be willfully blind and go about our day. Again, Thurgood Marshall's story pokes my conscience and screams at me to my shame; for I am becoming guilty of elder abuse by apathy. This rocks my world, my spirit and my mood greatly.
One of the most common ways elders are abused today; are the various stages into the realm of what is called second childhood. As is remarked upon by this online lesson in counseling ( here) - it points out that elder abuse can occur by those who are trying to take care of elders. As is specifically stated by All About Counseling (dot com);
A Second Childhood
"Whether through a form of geriatric dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, or merely through the increasing weakness and indignity of old age, the elderly lose their independence and their ability to defend themselves as a common result of aging. For every hale and hearty octogenarian in full control of his or her life, there are hundreds of others suffering some degree of dependence on others.
Whether they are friends, family or institutions, those who provide support can easily cross the line to becoming abusers".
So I review the reasons why I am having difficulty and realize it would be easy to find people younger than I (55) or even my age - who would all concur that the twirps' (Mr. Elias and Mrs. Goldstein) - deserve to be left alone.
Here are the facts of each case.....
Unfortunately, the reason I lost the case of Mr. Elias, after 33 trips to the court, over 1 full year of studying probate, lease and elder law with him - as well as spending $10,000 from myself and other charities. Simply was due to the fact that Mr. Elias was a gambler and a snake. Not a day went by - that I did not often regret my decision to take on his case. So, after 33 trips to the court - the judges made great comments about my efforts; and then permitted his too greedy sons to stick it to the old man.
In Mrs. Goldstein's case, the reason I succeeded temporarily was due to a different set of circumstance. Her son had rolled her husband into the bank and signed her off the accounts; he gambled away it all - even taking her birth certificate and passports. She was also being abused by the wicked witch of the west who liked to torture here in many mean ways. It made me sick that the wicked witch did it in the name of the Lord's work.
But Mrs. Goldstein would abuse me at every chance. If I picked her up and took her to Shavitz at someone's house - she expected me to do so every Friday (even though I had to rent out a car at great expense, time and effort). Her always making other excuses of pain and misery actually pissed me off. So if she wants to block me from calling her and helping her - that suits me fine.
Upon watching the HBO Thurgood Marshall special - my conscience and brain made me restless in my bed (why I am writing this at 2:14 a.m.). The man became Supreme Court Justice at the expense of never seeing his wife. He endured life threats, jail, nearly being lynched and being an abused black man in a racist America. The joke he tells about his punishment to the boiler room and his ending humor is inspiring; I would encourage you all to watch Laurence Fishburne at his absolute best performance. But what struck me most is that I thought, in the beginning - here is a man I can identify with. He fought giants in the law, for a trolley ride and the world around him - not scared of any bully too much - that he did not take a stand.
That is when I realized I am being a coward. As a warrior against injustice - I have to deal with bully policeman who stole my cars to undisclosed lots at tow prices absurd (see the Bell CA stories) and gave me tickets to make some supervisor happy; whilst helping Marc Dreier or his partners evil wishes to make me suffer for my blowing the whistle on federal court fraud. This smaller than David - me - who has websites against Goldman Sachs, Chief Justices of federal court and Dept of Justice rogue personnel - who could trump up charges, fine, sanction or incarcerate me. Me the noble man in a war to protect our Constitution - I am afraid of an 85 year old woman.
So today I am going to get up, shower, have breakfast and then take a ride to Mrs. Goldstein's hotel and knock on her door.
She will probably give me dirty looks, talk to me with disdain and may not even let me in; but I am going - none the less. Because it would be abuse to do otherwise.
It is wrong for us to ignore children who sit alone, or cry and/or eat only microwave dinners. For any person watching a video of us just walking by and ignoring such - would say what a bad person we are. Thus it is no different for any of us to be apathetic or willfully blind to our elder's in need; no matter what we think of their personality, life style and/or choices.
Most of you will read this - or even ignore it - once you get the gist of the subject matter at hand. You can see the battles I am fighting all over the country - for my company, my life savings and shareholders (who actually no longer care). The reason I continue those battles - is it would be a dereliction of duty to just lay down and let the abuses succeed without a fight to the finish.
Our most precious commodity is time. Money is a cheap way for many of us - to buy our feelings of doing good; but how many of us actually take the time (especially when it is difficult and unappreciated) - to try to make a difference of comfort for our fellow man or woman.
I cannot help Mr. Elias anymore - he has a caretaker who is much younger and has become his wife. They live close to a casino and squander monies within 3 days of receiving such. But I am glad the work transpired. His sons are evil, the probate process was evil and callous as well. When his wife died the sons falsified paperwork and threw him out of the house they never paid a dime for (despite the fact CA Law stipulates the surving spouse has control for 60 days). They had their father evicted the day I moved in - and my oversized body did put the fear of G-d into them; halting their daily threats. You can see their 3 year permanent restraining orders from the Van Nuys court online; for physical abuse. They already stole and squandered $1.5 million - so the remaining $300,000 equity in the house will not last long and their documented record of abuse will be a cloud above them for quite some time.
My hope and wish is that I can still make a difference for Mrs. Goldstein - who may not be here another year or may be here another 10. In either scenario, is it not worth my time to endeavor to help make her life better? Yes, she wants attention - but don't we all. Sure she is time consuming and seeks to make herself feel important - by making me feel uncomfortable. Children, wives, pets and parents all do the same. It is no reason to take the apathetic highway to its abusive ends.
So I am going to try to do more - I may fail - but I will still try.
What I ask of the faint few that have read this far. Please find some way this day, week or month and take your "time" and spend it on making a difference. It does not matter what others think about you - it only matters if you have tried to make our human race and America better. It is most often a thankless job - but if thanks is what you are looking for - grab a group of your friends and go to the Mission on Thanksgiving.
It is a start!