I Though He Was Going To Shoot Me
Where: Over the Rhine , Cincinnati (United States). When: on 04-02-2006.
Written at 17-05-2012 by Anonymous
3867 Reads
I Thought He Was Going To Shoot Me...
I went to a private catholic high school where we needed to have a certain number of service hours every quarter. We would get them by helping out at food kitchens, working with a canned food drive, babysitting for free, etc. My senior year came along and I was going to be coming up a little short for hours. My religion teacher offered some of us an opportunity to go down to a neighborhood in down town Cincinnati to go help an old lady move some furniture. The neighborhood is called Over the Rhine.
Now if you are from Cincinnati, you know that this story is going to get interesting, because Over the Rhine (OTR) is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. But since I had needed they hours and I had never been there before, I thought it would be a good idea. I had seen bad neighborhoods before, but nothing like this. When we got there, I felt like I was in a third world country. The buildings were falling apart so bad, it looked like the place had been under attack.
So I am already on edge. Every person I see, I think of them as a potential murderer. We were outside the lady’s house waiting for our teacher to return from inside when I saw a suspicious guy in a bubble coat coming towards our car. No one in the car said anything, but we all were thinking the same thing, “This guy is going to kill us for sure.” As he is crosses in front of our car he reaches in his bubble coat with his right hand. I began to seriously question why I came down here.
The next part of the story I couldn’t make up if I tried. He pulled out a kitten. I don’t know why he had a kitten in his coat, I was just thankful it wasn’t a handgun. That is when my fear began to decrease, and my guilt began to increase. Just because this guy was walking around a rough neighborhood, doesn’t make him a serial killer.
OTR is still a rough part of the city, but the city is working to make it better. That was my first real trip there, and it hasn’t been my last. Since then, I have helped out with several events there. I felt bad for how I felt that day, and it really made me think. It must be really hard for these people. No one wants to live there, no one wants to buy property there, and no one trusts these people. Don’t ever judge a book by its cover.
I went to a private catholic high school where we needed to have a certain number of service hours every quarter. We would get them by helping out at food kitchens, working with a canned food drive, babysitting for free, etc. My senior year came along and I was going to be coming up a little short for hours. My religion teacher offered some of us an opportunity to go down to a neighborhood in down town Cincinnati to go help an old lady move some furniture. The neighborhood is called Over the Rhine.
Now if you are from Cincinnati, you know that this story is going to get interesting, because Over the Rhine (OTR) is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. But since I had needed they hours and I had never been there before, I thought it would be a good idea. I had seen bad neighborhoods before, but nothing like this. When we got there, I felt like I was in a third world country. The buildings were falling apart so bad, it looked like the place had been under attack.
So I am already on edge. Every person I see, I think of them as a potential murderer. We were outside the lady’s house waiting for our teacher to return from inside when I saw a suspicious guy in a bubble coat coming towards our car. No one in the car said anything, but we all were thinking the same thing, “This guy is going to kill us for sure.” As he is crosses in front of our car he reaches in his bubble coat with his right hand. I began to seriously question why I came down here.
The next part of the story I couldn’t make up if I tried. He pulled out a kitten. I don’t know why he had a kitten in his coat, I was just thankful it wasn’t a handgun. That is when my fear began to decrease, and my guilt began to increase. Just because this guy was walking around a rough neighborhood, doesn’t make him a serial killer.
OTR is still a rough part of the city, but the city is working to make it better. That was my first real trip there, and it hasn’t been my last. Since then, I have helped out with several events there. I felt bad for how I felt that day, and it really made me think. It must be really hard for these people. No one wants to live there, no one wants to buy property there, and no one trusts these people. Don’t ever judge a book by its cover.