Tag: responsibility

Safety is the parent’s responsibility

If you have responsibility for kids, be responsible. It’s about safety. Follow the rules. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a car, at a playground or at a wrestling event somewhere in America. Rules are for safety. They need to be enforced.

It is always the responsibility of the individual to follow directions or rules that are listed to protect someone’s safety. This should be the absolute truth. It is surprising how many parents ignore the rules of safety because they are willing to take that risk for themselves. The don’t seem to understand, due to ignorance or arrogance, that they are effectively making the decision for those who cannot judge for themselves.

Far too many people object to their “freedoms” being challenged by rules established to have a safe productive society when we have harnessed immense energies that put attention to laws and directions paramount to our own survival…both personally and in society. Texting while driving puts your own passengers at risk as well as others. Those to object to someone telling them what they can and can’t do in their own cars will also probably be the first ones to object to the self driving cars on the road.

The warning sign for exercise equipment.
Warning label on all equipment at the outdoor gym.

I moved to La Quinta, California over the past couple of years. One of the things that I absolutely love is the outdoor gym equipment down by the park in old town La Quinta. Just about 100 feet away from this adult fitness equipment is a playground with equipment appropriate for the kids. On every one of the pieces of fitness apparatus is a warning that states that no one under 14 is permitted to use the equipment. Knowing that kids who are extremely young can’t read, there is an additional warning for parents not to let the children in their care use the equipment. Still, seemingly responsible individuals continue to let kids play on this equipment.

I have seen children who are barely toddlers being allowed and even encouraged to play on this equipment. I have remembered cringing as they lean forward to grab a handle that is supposed to be an easy reach for an adult and the footing fails because the equipment moves. Item number 3 on the red warnings is that the provider provides no liability for the misuse of the equipment. Still, if an injury occurs, I am sure that a lawyer will be involved. This stinks.

If you have responsibility for kids, be responsible. It’s about safety. Follow the rules. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a car, at a playground or at a wrestling event somewhere in America. Rules are for safety. They need to be enforced.

Engaging vs Enraging

The Problem with Kavanaugh’s Defense

College drinking…in the 1980s.  I am very familiar with the practice.  I attended college from 1980 through 1985.  Please note the time period.  College was a time for exploring your independence…making your own decisions…some good…some not so good.  For many of us…me included…I had to make my own decisions about alcohol.  What to drink, when and with who.

In the quest to “belong” in a new environment…sometimes you follow the crowd.  Here, you go to parties.  You pledge fraternities and sororities.  You look up to and take advice from people who are barely older than you are and in some respects a lot less mature simply because they have been there and know the ropes.  Sadly, their motives are often in question.  Some people will ply you with alcohol in order to get some crazy behavior and have fun at your expense.  We’ve seen the tragic consequences of this behavior recently with the situation at Penn State and others around the country.  Still others have a more sinister desire…the desire to find a person and victimize them for sex.  Alcohol goes a long way to that end by itself but is often enhanced with drugs that immobilize a person beyond the point of just making “bad decisions”.

I’ve just watched a person that I have admired for years prosecuted for drugging women for the purpose of taking advantage of them for sex and subsequently going to prison for this crime.  He planned it out and carried it out.  A lot of these women had their memories blurred by the very same drug.  Often, alcohol by itself can cause blackouts.  If so, this makes it impossible for you to believe a person’s testimony when they admit to drinking and being drunk and then denying that they were at a certain place at a certain time…because alcohol affects your memory.  Remember that his denial is that he doesn’t remember…even if he never said that because he has admitted to drinking in high school and college.  He could have very well done it and doesn’t remember.

I feel for the victims of these crimes.  I feel for the person, Brett Kavanaugh right now and the person that he proports to be.  He lived through that time called college and it doesn’t matter whether it is Trenton State College or Princeton…they all had parties.  Academics don’t make a person a better person.  We are all susceptible to bad decisions.  Learning in college is not all academic.  We are responsible for actions even in learning our lessons.

I don’t drink like a used to.  I am sure that no one continues to live like they lived in college.  I am aware of my behaviors good and bad in college…some even when I was drunk.  It’s the behaviors that I can’t remember that are the scariest.  If there’s anybody I’ve offended, it is still my responsibility.  If witnesses can be gathered and believed, it should be done…particularly if I am getting a high profile job…government or otherwise.  It is a long time ago for me.  It is a long time ago form Judge Kavanaugh.

It will take an experienced nonpartisan organization like the FBI to get to the truth or as close to the truth as possible.  If there are witnesses…they should be found.  If they are credible…the FBI will know.  It’s time to stop believing the accusers because they say so and it’s time to stop believing Mr. Kavanagh because of who he says he is and partisan politicians say that he is….  We have an entire Bureau dedication to investigations at the federal level.  Get this away from congress now!!!

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