From Mar 28, 2008
Beware, you’re about to read my opinions about lots of different things. If you’re not comfortable reading about things you might not agree with, I would encourage you not to read on any further. If, however, you agree or disagree and have something thoughtful to add, your feedback is HUGELY appreciated. What I’m trying to do is start a conversation… get us talking about the things we’re not supposed to talk about. With that, carry on.
So, did you hear about the family whose 11 year old child died from diabetes because they preferred to not seek treatment?
The courts are trying to figure out if/how they’ll press charges for child abuse.
It’s sad… and I don’t want to come across as though I’m heartless… but somehow I’m not sure that they should necessarily be charged. Yes, indeed, I believe it’s neglect. But is our government responsible for ensuring the survival of children? I pose this question because I’m in the business that saves children. I pose this question because I believe that we should listen to the children and that we as adults are responsible for protecting our children…
At the same time, I am not entirely certain that it’s the government’s place to enforce this.
I believe in survival of the fittest, and frankly this family obviously isn’t the fittest.
I believe that we don’t have the right to abuse/murder or neglect our children, but that it should be of our own accord, not because we are afraid of what guidelines some legislatures box us in with.
It’s not the same, but it’s somehow related to abortion. I DO believe that abortion is “murder” in many ways– because there is a potential human life within us. I believe it’s justifiable “murder” because what we do as adults– and what we decide as adults– should be contained within a category of adult decisions and that we should take FULL responsibility for our choices. I don’t think it’s the government’s place to dictate that.
I believe in capital punishment, though. I believe that those choices should have the repercussions of a death sentence, and I think that if the conviction is made beyond a doubt– preferably with DNA evidence of an atrocious crime, that the consequences should be a non-negotiable, non-appealable death sentence. I believe that the non-rehabilitatable people should fall in this category, and should not sit around for years waiting for someone to finally say, “Okay, we’re done arguing, be done with you.” Specifically, I believe this should encompass all sexually violent predators, especially those who hurt children.
So what’s the difference between someone who neglects to provide health care for their ailing child and someone who is a pedophile? I believe much of it is intention. This is where it becomes a slippery slope.
A pedophile, by definition, “loves children.” In “loving children,” they also are sexually aroused by children. They know it’s wrong– because they hide it from our government. In their minds, the only reason it could possibly be construed as WRONG is because the government tells them it is WRONG.
Someone who neglects to get health care for their child for spiritual reasons has faith. Of course, a completely different family could present the same behavior (failing to provide health care) because they are evil and abusive. It would take a very wise person to decipher the difference in intentions.
That being said, don’t you think it is our responsibility to put in place those wise people to determine the criminals’ intentions? This would work wonderfully if we actually had this power. Which leads us to the problem of our citizens not voting. I would guess that the #1 reason why people don’t vote is because they don’t feel that their vote counts. (Followed by the #2 reason that they don’t like the candidates they have to vote for–another problem all together.) Before the last presidential election, I would have vehemently argued that your vote not counting was a falsehood instilled by those up high who don’t want you to believe that your vote counts… Fewer votes means fewer people standing up for who they want elected. However, much of my faith in the system was lost when I realized that, “OH! My vote doesn’t really count!” when Bush was elected– though though through a majority vote. That right there was the beginning in the downward spiral of my faith in our system.
This leads me to my blind eye phenomenon. I know damn well that I am not the only one turning a blind eye– in fact, giving most of us a benefit of the doubt as being thoughtful, mindful, thinking human beings, I believe that I must be within a majority of people who “sees” what is wrong with our system yet chooses to do nothing because we lead “happy” and more importantly FREE lives.
So, back to the broken justice system. Is there anyone besides me who recognizes just how horribly lame and injured our system is? It revolves around money, and it isn’t fair. Life’s not fair, and I’m one who will typically embrace working with what we’ve got (and following the rules simply because that’s my responsibility as a citizen), and disregarding the flagrant unfair treatment that you’ll receive based upon your socioeconomic or ethnic status. It sucks. We have such a huge nation with so many different judges and laws and individual decision-makers who are inconsistent and other further the inadequate justice system. We have half of our people believing that the government should regulate EVERYTHING and another group who thinks they should regulate nothing, and another group who thinks they should selectively regulate, etc… We’re inconsistent. We believe for some reason that how we’ve always done it MUST be how it works (or doesn’t work), and short of a revolution, there’s not a lot we can do. (Enter blind eye phenomenon again…)
Anyway… much of what I’ve presented here doesn’t have a simple answer– and most of you who read it certainly won’t want to actually DO anything about it (hell, I’m not sure *I* want to do anything about it). I just wanted to point out some examples of why and how what we’re doing here ISN’T working, and I’m still working on a solid solution myself. I know, I know, I especially dislike throwing out complaints with no solutions– it’s more bitching than problem solving… but in this post I suppose you have to start out by identifying the problems before you can work through what the solutions are. I’m such a woman. *wink*
