I know we haven't been very good bloggers lately, but I've decided to try a new approach. The following link will take you to a news article about a woman who is imprisoned for providing alcohol at her son's birthday party. What I want to know is do you think her sentence is justified? If you want to get into whether or not the law is just, I'm cool with that as well. Just what do you think?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6747807.stm
2 comments:
Not that you don't already know how I feel about this, but I think America's obsession with preventing underage drinking is a huge cause of the problem of underage alcohol abuse, which quickly becomes alcohol abuse in adults. By not allowing any underage drinking at all, the government makes illicit drinking more tempting. Not to mention the fact that drinking around children is so frowned upon that few children have models for responsible moderate drinking from parents and other adults. No wonder our children are so tempted to excess when the only time they see drinking is in the context of overindulgence in the media or the irresponsible behavior of other children, who are drinking in defiance of the law and usually parental rules as well.
As for the punishment, I think that jail time is excessive. It seems to me that this woman realized that her kid and his friends would be drinking anyway and that she provided a safe environment for it by taking away their cars and providing some behavioural supervision. I'm not sure I think it was the most responsible way ever to handle it, since it seems like drunkeness was expected (I think moderation should be encouraged), and she knew she was breaking a law, but at most it deserved a fine. Not 2 years in jail, certainly. It makes Americans look ridiculous.
So there. Now I'll go study some more like the (semi)responsible person that I am. :D
Speaking as someone who was underage when I had my first drink (and several after that), I have a jaded view for both sides. While I agree that the jail time may be excessive, I must at some level disagree with the lovely "x-phile."
It was not until my 30's that I ever witnessed anyone who had a drink in moderation. Like most of our culture, we rarely do things with moderation. My suggestion in all of this is that either the drinking age is lowered, or the draft age is raised. Actually, if we want to get technical about this, the age in which most of us are able to drive (which kills more teenagers that drinking and war combined here in the United States) should be raised, unless stricter tests and requirements for safe driving are met. Now I realize that I am in my mid-30s and how would I have felt if I had to wait longer to get my license or go through a bunch of hoops, I would have thought that life was just not fair (big surprise - it's not). In fact, the six or seven accidents I had (not all my fault) all occurred before the age of 21.
Let me throw this one at you...
The things described here: drinking, driving, and the age at which a young man or woman can be required to die for a country - are all band-aid issues to a larger problem that our culture is no where near coming to a clearer answer for.
There is no right of passage in our culture, as a whole. Other cultures have rituals and traditions in which male and female must undergo, in order to be deemed a part of the tribe, family, village, society, etc... As a result of this not really being a part of our culture, we find ways in which we want to be a part of "grown-up" things. Things we believe we can handle, think through, reflect on, see if this will benefit not only myself, but also the greater good, as it is now my responsibility.
The larger problem with the lady and gentleman described in the news report, is not that they provided alcohol to a group of minors (even as big of a problem as that is within itself), but rather that they took it upon themselves to know what was best, without regard or input from the parents of those present. How might this story have changed if they had been able to contribute or be held responsible for their children? At least the government waits until we turn 18, before they make life and death, as well as putting in harm's way decisions for each of us. These individuals took it upon themselves to make those choices without asking those who were responsible for these boys.
"But it's just a couple of beers...", one might say. Well, why not think of some other things that you might want to be older to do. Why not have a stripper there, hand out some weapons, or provide them a safe place to have sex (protected, of course mind you).
All of this (even what I have written here) is very anecdotal, in that we all think we know what is best for others. From the government, to the lady and gentlemen who provided some beer to some young boys, and all the responses this post might receive. In the end, we only get to answer for ourselves...
Would I have done this? NO
Have I done similar things that were as stupid? YES
blessings,
dps
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