Justice?

1/25/2014

As I write my blog this morning, my blood is literally boiling over the sentence handed down to the mother who left her 8 month old son in her car for seven hours in July with a temperature of nearly 90 degrees.  The baby died.  That same morning she remembered to drop off her young daughter and older child to their schools.  Unfortunately, she failed to remember the baby.

Her sentence?  Completion of 18 months of supervised probation and a year on unsupervised probation.  That's it?  Apparently this case has been about accountability rather than punishment. I know that the mother will have to live with herself and her actions that day for the remainder of her life.  And I do sympathize for the pain she has and will continue to endure.  

When Benjamin was born and his car seat was installed in the back of my car, I never left my car without looking in the backseat.  I did this even when I knew he wasn't in my car, but I was compelled to check anyway.  

We have to have a license to drive a car, fly a plane or shoot a gun.  But anybody can become a parent.  Fortunately, the number of good parents far outweigh those that aren't.  Trouble is that the news seldom puts the focus on good people, and that's a shame.

I find it very hard to read stories in the newspaper about children who have been mistreated or died at the hands of an adult. I'm not talking about errors in parental judgment, because we humans do make mistakes.  And I understand that.  What I'm angry about is when someone willing inflicts pain and/or death upon a child, because that I don't understand.  

Sorry for the downer blog - just something I felt strongly that I needed to write.

P