I lost a lot of respect for someone tonight. For those who were with me tonight, its not what you think. There was a gentleman in K-Mart who we have had problems with many times before. He’s followed some girls around, acted suspiciously, and appeared to be under the influence of something. Cops have been called in the past but tonight when he was there, he was shopping. He was standing in an aisle minding his own business, and people started harassing him and going to management demanding that this “tweaker” be removed from the store. Eventually, management agreed and called a local deputy over to escort him out, despite the fact that he was doing nothing wrong (other then spraying cans of Axe everywhere). As the cops were called, he got in line, and he paid, and slowly worked his way out as he normally does. After the cops showed up, it was discovered that the guy wasn’t under the influence of anything, that he is incredibly OCD and wasn’t on his medications anymore. When this started initially, my problem was that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, yet people were still demanding he be removed. But people continued. They mocked him and continued to laugh and talk that he should have a restraining order written up against him. That he shouldn’t be allowed to shop here. And when I asked why, the only thing people could say is “He’s weird,” or, “He’s different.” This is basic discrimination. I don’t care why you don’t like him or that he freaks you out. He’s human and he may be different but he has as much right to shop as someone with Down’s Syndrome, someone with cancer, someone who’s gay, someone who’s black, someone who’s a woman, and someone who is none of those things. He did nothing wrong and as long as he continues to come to K-Mart, I’ll continue to help him. I watched people I consider friends and respected ridicule a man simply because his brain forces him to function differently. It may seem like I’m overreacting but discrimination of any kind makes me a little crazy.