Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Talking Her Way Out of Rape

This will be a tribute to George Washington Crane. Along with being a Psychiatrist, he was a Sunday school teacher in a little old church built atop the roof of a skyscraper in Chicago. He was a Freudian doctor who analyzed dreams along those lines.

As a little boy I would sit on the front steps waiting for the afternoon newspaper. I loved to read the comics. I still do. But in those days I was happy to read Dr. Crane's daily column. His specialty was practical advice. Talk about teaching! This man did it all the time. He had a blackboard in his kitchen to instruct his children with.

He operated the first computerized dating service. Computers in those days used punch cards, but they worked. His rules were: you need to send a photo and some background data. Your first date must be going to church together.

A young man sent his information, and the good doctor found a match and forwarded his picture to a young lady. Trouble is, her sister was curious and opened the letter. She and the young man went to church together. Imagine stealing a potential husband from your own sister.

Doctor Crane originated The Compliment Club. Find something positive about people and tell them. "Everybody wants to feel important" was his advice, so "toot the other person's horn."

A teacher wrote to say she had a problem student. She could think of no virtues that she had to praise. One day while she was talking to this girl, another teacher came in and stood by. Quickly, the teacher brushed the little girl's hair back and said, "Doesn't she have a beautiful forehead?"

The child was amazed to hear a compliment. Apparently she had been starved for attention, which she had tried to get through her misbehavior. The teacher lavished more praise on her once unruly student and watched her behavior change.

But a greater test of The Compliment Club came. A lady told the doctor that she had been driving with a man she knew, when he pulled into an isolated place and said he was going to rape her. Amazingly she thought of using the compliment club principal to defend herself!

Her defense was this. "You are so strong I could not resist you. But I trusted you to be a gentleman. You don't have to force yourself on a woman. You are good looking and have nice manners. I wouldn't go with you if I didn't like you. Please take me home. We can still be friends and I'll forget this." He intended to penetrate her body, but she penetrated his mind.

Dr. Crane, you were a down to earth genius, and a great Christian man. I wish to "toot the horn" for one who helped so many people.

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