My son James is living in Fort Worth, Texas, going to school, working almost full-time, living on his own, and doing everything he can to become a contributing member of society.
He was given a broken bicycle, and because it was his only real means of transportation, he spent about $100 buying tubes and fixing it up. He rides that bike in the brutal Texas heat to school, to work, to the supermarket, and everywhere else he needs to go.
Today, he rode it to the store to pick up some index cards for one of his classes. He locked it up, went inside, and when he came back out, both wheels were gone.
He called the police and filed a report. People reportedly saw a homeless man removing the wheels from his bicycle.
Think about that for a moment.
Here’s a young man going to school full-time, working nearly full-time, living independently, paying his way, and trying like hell to build a future for himself. His transportation is a pedal bike because that’s what he can afford.
And some pos walks up and simply takes the wheels off it.
Now James has no transportation unless he somehow finds the money to replace the wheels, tires, tubes and everything else, which he doesn’t have.
And this isn’t the first time my family has dealt with something like this.
A couple of years ago, my daughter was assaulted by a homeless man at a pizza restaurant. He grabbed her breasts. She was shocked and traumatized by what happened. She went to the police and reported it.
And from what we were told, there wasn’t much they could do under the circumstances.
So forgive me if I’m angry.
This isn’t about hating homeless people. Being homeless doesn’t automatically make someone a bad person. There are people on the streets who are struggling with poverty, addiction, mental illness and circumstances beyond their control who deserve compassion and help.
But compassion cannot mean abandoning the victims.
When someone steals from my son, or sexually assaults my daughter, I don’t care what their circumstances are, I care about what happened to my children.
My son isn’t sitting around waiting for someone else to take care of him. He’s going to school. He’s working. He’s living on his own. He’s trying to build something for himself.
My daughter was simply going about her life when someone violated her.
And now my son is simply trying to get through school and work when someone takes the wheels off the only transportation he has.
That’s what makes me angry.
And what breaks my heart, I can’t be there for him.
We can have compassion for people who are homeless and expect accountability when someone commits a crime.
Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Because here’s the part that seems to get lost in all the political arguments:
The people trying to do the right thing shouldn’t become collateral damage in our failure to deal with the people who aren’t.
James doesn’t need excuses made for whoever stole his wheels.
He needs a fucking bike.
c 2026 Chu The Cud
All Rights Reserved
Chu The Cud 