Iselin in the News

I've often mentioned that this is a blog, not really the NEWS.  I don't go out looking for news stories, and I don't do investigative journalism. 

Sometimes, though, Iselin is really in the news, and how can I not mention it? 

So, yes, I'm sure that you've already read the story about the $200M global swindle, 18 international people arrested and charged in what may be the nation's largest credit card fraud ring.  And, I guess you may have seen the article on the Woodbridge Patch and in other places, such as SAANJ.net, saying that the thieves include alleged ringleaders who are from Iselin. 

Bah.

I hate bad news.  That's the whole reason I didn't want to be a reporter.  I'm too pollyanna-ish, I prefer to look on the bright side of anything, and the bright side is never the only side.  There is always a dark side, too. 

Some people prefer to look at the negative side.  That is your right.   Maybe we balance each other out.

So, in the interest of balancing out anyone talking trash about Iselin right now because some people who lived here were probably thieves, here is my bright side:

They caught these guys.  Hopefully they get all of them.  Hopefully, our justice system will work like it is supposed to.  Hopefully.

Also - keep in mind that no single ethnic group or racial group or political group is all bad and should be condemned for the actions of some bad elements.  If it is, then, as an Italian American, I must be in the mob -- and I'm not.  I always hated that characterization of all Italians as Mafioso.

And - just because some bad guys were caught in Iselin, does NOT make Iselin a bad place.

I heard a guy on the radio say something about this arrest, as I drove to work this morning.  He said something along the lines of this:  for all those people who value diversity, there ya go - the benefit of diversity - none of our native people figured out a scam of this magnitude.  (I'm paraphrasing, because that's about what I remember.)  And I thought to myself, is he insulting me?  And is the insult that he thought I am stupid to value diversity?  Or that he thinks I'm not smart enough to be a crook?

Anyway, my point is this.  I refuse to let this change my pollyanna ways.  I know there are crooks and illegals and thieves.  I know that there are tons of people taking advantage of the system.  People of all ethnic groups, races, creeds, and politics.   I also know there isn't much I can do about it. 

I need to believe that people are basically good at heart.  Sure, we are all in a fight for our own survival - our own family, our own group.  But I will continue to believe that most of us want to better the world, and not make it worse. 

In fact, I really think that it makes the world a better place just by trying to believe in it being a better place, and then acting like it is.