Bravery No Longer Appreciated?

In a town which has more letter O's in its name than any other city in the United States, a man was arrested for trying to help. Is this really the direction that our country is going? Has it become a crime to have good intentions? Or perhaps that we have become too "politically correct" to bother ourselves with what should be instead of what actually is.

The story goes like this: a gentleman in his own apartment, thinking that he had heard screams from a woman who was being raped, bravely went to the upstairs apartment to see what was going on. This man, James Van Iveren, grabbing whatever weapon he could find to defend himself, took with him a sword and broke down the door in order to save the woman who he thought was being raped. However, once he got into the apartment there was no woman to be found. He later found out that the sounds he heard were coming from a pornographic video tape.

James Van Iveren ended up being charged with criminal trespassing, damage, and disorderly conduct. He court date is in early March and he could face up to 33 months in jail. My question is: why is this man, who thought he was going in to save a life, being charged with criminal activity? Let's face it: if there were more people in the world that would jump in and try to prevent a terrible thing from happening, as in a rape case, there probably would be many cases of criminal activity that could be prevented. So instead of preventing a criminal activity from taking place, Van Iveren ended up being responsible for "criminal activity," according to the authorities of Oconomowoc.

If the court, judge, and jury have any sense at all, however, they will dismiss the charges and find him innocent of the crime that he is being charged with. Since when have efforts to help another turned into a chance for one to charge another with criminal activity? This is absolutely absurd and ludicrous for Van Iveren, who was only trying to help. Indeed, the man who was watching the pornography should instead be charged with having his sound up loud enough for the downstairs apartments to hear. What about the noise ordinances and common courtesy? Where in the world is the United States headed in all of its cases where we see an example of someone trying to help, and it ends up in a disaster? Perhaps maybe the next time Van Iveren hears supposed screams of another woman being raped and it actually is, he won't try to help for fear of being prosecuted with criminal activity! You can bet that if a woman was actually being raped Van Iveren would be heralded a hero for his actions. But instead, the opposite happens when his beliefs don't confirm what is actually going on. People in America, though, need to take a step back and learn from this case. We should be grateful that there are people out there that are willing to risk their lives and help, rather than hate those that only try to do good for our world and keep it a better place!

Source:
MSNBC. (http://www.msnbc.com)