Bring it.

Here at PetePhillipsOnline, we don't get to write many things that are serious. If you remember, I did have that Cloning article a long time ago, but the serious topics can never be taken very lightly and lately you've seen that we have a few masterminds out there that take this website as totally factual. The combination of seriousness and humor is a delicate mix. For this reason, we'll drop the humor, I'm here to talk about something serious: discrimination.

Why would I be concerned about discrimination though? I'm a white middle-class male. I can hear my most honest fans right now, "Well you are fat and disabled, you probably got discriminated for that, right?" True as this may be, you're wrong as far as this piece is concerned. The truth is that discrimination is running rampant in the "city" of Wilkes-Barre day in and day out. This "city" of pride and community, this "city" that boasts "United We Stand" in the Public Square, this home of chinese buffets next to pizza places, this "city" of discontent.

Many people will tell you that human beings are inclined to discrimination and hate. This is the result of our cynicism in modern culture, but some maintain the belief that human beings are generally good. I wish I could believe that, but after what I've seen, it's getting harder and harder.

Over the past few months, the "city" has decided that, with the recent shortage of parking around the "city", they would capitalize on the entrapment and up the price of parking tickets to $10 for the first offense. This plan was supposed to generate up to $300,000 to pay off some "city" debt. Whatever, I don't care. I'm sure that plan would have worked, but with the Code Enforcement Officer being a bigot, they'll never get $300,000.

That's right. I've been a victim. On one fateful day, the Code Enforcement guy gave me a ticket for not filling my meter with money. Now I understand this offense and the implications in being charged with it. Dare I say, I plead guilty. More importantly, I plead guilty to being from New Jersey, and you can't stop me. That's right. Out of the twelve cars on the street with empty meters, I, the only one with New Jersey plates, was the only one to receive a ticket.

Yes you Practical Pattys, I did consider that the people may have picked up their tickets or moved their cars by the time I found my ticket, but I found it only fifteen minutes after I got it. I was appalled, but I paid the ticket, I would surely not let them get any more money out of me through late fees and the like. Still, I was enraged. I vowed not to park on the street during prime ticket times ever again, they wouldn't even get a nickel for fifteen minutes of parking out of me!

But where would I park? Well, that's when things got worse.

On Monday, May 24, I parked my car in a lot here at King's College. King's has been a good home and I never knew things to go wrong. Recently I sprained my foot and I didn't think it would be a good idea to park up the steep hill behind the gym. I found that behind the gym, on the other side of the wall, in the back of the bus is where the Jersey people belong to King's Security. My internship of forty hours a week has put me on the same level as many professors and administrators for the summer. In some cases I put in many more hours than they do. But time is of no value when you're an outsider like me. Again, I was victimized by the evils of parking enforcement.

I got a call at work from Karen, who told me that a note had been left on my car to warn that I had parked in a staff lot. I, being a staff member, was confused and equally frustrated. My New Jersey plates had betrayed me again, not in a sense that I was ashamed, but in a way to romanticize the situation. Was there no where for a New Jersey car to park? Had the world gone CRAZY? Was security conveniently unaware of the other ten cars in the staff lot that were students taking classes or working on campus?!

It turns out there are places for a New Jersey car to park. With an injured foot I had three options: two blocks away, in the back, far recesses of the campus; two and a half blocks away, in the suburban-looking commuter lot; or an uphill block away. My foot hasn't gotten any better, but my heart has grown strong. I'll admit, I'm no Rosa Parks, but I think that writing this article will unite all of my fellow out-of-towners in an effort to tackle this issue. No longer should these uppity locals get their way. We're a damn Global Village and nobody's gonna screw us.

I believe that I was wrongly warned in my days travels and it really makes you wonder how far we have come as a culture. We may have broken down barriers of race and religion in some areas, but we've built up stronger walls in places like Wilkes-Barre, where a man can park his car anywhere, as long as he has the right symbol. I say this, I hope that when my children are parking their floating cars in the air, no one pushes them to the back of the line or the faraway lot. We have to put aside our differences and make a world of love. I know you have it in you, so let it out and spread the love. Otherwise, we're no better than them.