20160308 (BIG SINs)

Mortgages . . . cars . . . drinking water

Suppose you didn’t like somebody.

And the next time you saw him

You poked him in the schnoz.

Didn’t make it bleed or anything

Just made it sore for a day or two.

That’s just plain wrong you realize

When you finally come to your

Senses. “Tom,” you say, “I’m 

Really sorry. I was stupid and you

Can take a whack at me if you

Want.” Maybe he reams you 

Verbally and says you can never

Speak to him again or be anywhere

Near him or his family the rest of

Your life. Or he whacks you with

A rounder, you get up, shake hands,

And go on on as if nothing happened.

I’d kinda put that in the category 

Minor sin—adjudicated by the parties

On the spot—finis. But if you saw an

Opportunity to make a boodle of 

Bucks by selling bad mortgages to

Large groups which could only

End in disaster for the suckers—

Loss of homes, exorbitant profits,

Collapse of the national economy,

Perhaps a few suicides along the

Way when people learn how they’d

Been played, divorces, courts 

Removing kids from their parents—

In short some really bad stuff on a

National scale, maybe international—

But nobody’s nose was ever touched.

I would call that major sin, wherever

Society would place it on a legal

Metric of criminal fraud vs. the 

Earlier example (nose bopping) of

Simple assault. Would you not think

The guys who came up with the scam

Would at least be seen as doing evil,

If not a crime? But this society sees

It as just the reverse: they might have

Done evil but it was well within

The laws of financial tricksterism—

Not illegal. Nobody goes to jail

For a little flimflammery in the 

Market. They should have exercised

Due diligence and checked out

These instruments. Even high

School kids can tell you nothing’s

Guaranteed—read the prospectus—

Buyer beware! Besides, except for

A few nervous types nobody got

Hurt (nose-bopping). That’s

Only one example of getting 

Away with BIG SIN. Another is

You hear complaints about the

Cars you make unpredictably

Shutting themselves off, causing

Quite a few deaths. But rather

Than stop making the cars until 

You find and correct the cause,

You tuck those numbers under your

Hat and keep making the cars 

For another seven years before

The Consumer Safety Product

Commission comes after your

Ass big time. That’s a BIG SIN.

Or maybe you’re the governor’s 

Choice for Emergency Manager

Of Flint Michigan, and been told

To save every buck you can to

Get the city in the black. So you

Switch to the cheaper but dirtier

Water for the city. How much

Dirtier? Who knows? But you 

Switch to drinking bottled water.

Then when some uptight pediatrician

Starts noticing kids’ blood levels

Of lead toxicity are more than 

Double the permissible levels

And spills the beans with the EPA

Who should have caught it first,

That’s a BIG SIN. Getting the 

Idea? BIG SINs are bad but nobody

Goes to the hoosegow. Now say

Three Our Fathers and Three Hail

Marys and make an act of at least 

Imperfect contrition.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016