Senseless

My friend Dave Kelly called me yesterday as L. and I were editing wedding pictures.

I could hear in his usually well-modulated voice some anger, frustration and some sadness.

Someone had just stolen two of the three really nice aluminum signs that I'd designed and had Kinko's print for him. They were stolen from the intersection of Sandario and Orange Grove.

Man, I get his anger and frustration, don't you?

Dave and Karen have a really nice small business, selling well-loved trees and other plants at prices even L. and I can afford. They're dedicated (by motto, even) to service and quality and education. And they live what they believe.

They're not rich, they live in small place in the middle of their nursery, and they have two kids. They're hard-working, honest people making a living by delivering quality, education and service. I think I can say that they want to make the world a better place, to assist people in having Better Lives Through Plants. Really.

And yesterday someone made off with the signs between 3:00-4:00 p.m. Dave knows this, because he learned years ago to leave nothing on that intersection overnight. So he went to bring in the signs at 4 o'clock.... and they were gone. A friend of his says they were there when he drove by about 3.

These aren't the first signs that have been stolen from them. Dave says any time he's put anything nice down there, it's disappeared.

You feeling the anger and frustration yet? How dare someone do that? I'm angry and I'm frustrated!

Then, I can relate to the sadness, too.

For me, it would be because Life isn't fair and some people aren't nice, and, by golly, it should be and they should be, no matter what anyone says. Maybe that's just me.

So, now what? Dave says the local police won't do anything. He can't afford having the signs reprinted only to have them disappear again.

He's thinking of reverting to the handmade signs he's so meticulously lettered in the past. He's also considering adhesive letters. Or he was telling me about some old guy who hand-letters cheap signs onto postboard, not really caring about how they look. They're crap, but he's very prolific.

Personally, I don't think Dave could handle turning out much less than the best he can do.