(Written and posted 29
August 2003)
So far this year,
thirty-seven children have been murdered by their caregivers, dying in a
torturously painful and cruel manner that no innocent should ever be subjected
to. Shockingly, there are many who are
willing to excuse these homicides as accidents and unintentional. However, leaving a child restrained in a hot
car to suffer and die is no more unintentional or accidental then taking a
pistol and shooting someone in the head, and at least with the gunshot, the end
comes quickly. I would much rather have
someone end my life in a snap of the fingers than to be restrained in a hot car
and have to suffer unthinkable suffering for hours before the merciful
intervention of death.
There is no difference
between shooting someone and leaving someone in a car to die, as both require
thought. Whether a person engages in
malicious conduct or reckless conduct, some amount of thought and deliberation
is required. Just as a person intends
to be malicious, a person intends to be reckless; thus, the result of either
conduct should be treated the same.
Unfortunately, it isn’t; there are too many people who are willing to
equate reckless conduct with accidents.
If one is driving prudently
and cautiously through a neighborhood with many children, and a child darts out
between two parked cars and is struck and killed, I think the overwhelming
consensus would be that it was an accident, a terrible tragedy, and that the
driver should not be punished. However,
if one is speeding through the same neighborhood and the same result occurs (a
dead child), I think most would hold the driver at fault for knowingly putting
the child in harms way by being reckless.
I find it absolutely
inexcusable and indefensible for any parent or caregiver to be so self-absorbed
as to forget about a child in the car.
The excuse I hear is that parents are so busy these days, they just
forget. That’s a bunch of bull. We have five children, four of whom are
involved in various activities, so we can talk from experience about being busy
and having a full life. There have been
times where we have had to go from one practice to another and then back to the
first; talk about keeping you on your toes!
With all of the busy-ness that is inherent with a large family, we have
never, ever, forgotten that one of our children in still in the car. As the fifth of five children, I can say
that my parents never did, either. Nor
my uncles and aunts and cousins, most of whom also have large families.
The latest incident happened
here in Tulsa. A teacher forgot to drop
her infant off at the babysitter, went to school, returned to the babysitter to
pick her child up (the one she forgot to drop off), and then and only then
realized that she never dropped him off to begin with but left him in the back
seat. Given that the mercury was
pushing the century mark, the child was dead when she discovered him.
Here is what I think should
happen. First, she should permanently
be barred from teaching ever again. A
teacher is the person that a child spends most of his or her day with; like it
or not, because of this extensive contact, a teacher serves as a role model and
moral guide to a child. Do you really
want a person who is reckless enough to leave her own infant in a hot car all
day to be a role model for your children?
I know that I do not.
Second, she should lose
custody of her other child. I’m sorry,
but you are not a good parent if you are careless enough to leave a child
strapped in a car seat in a car for hours on a hot day. If her recklessness can kill one child, who’s
to say it can’t kill another?
Finally, she should be
subjected to the same kind of torture that her child was forced to endure. Of course, being an adult, there is a
fighting chance she can survive sitting strapped into a sweltering car for several
hours. If not, well, those are the
breaks.
If more parents were held
accountable for murdering their children in a hot car rather than having their
recklessness excused and justified, these needless deaths would not be
occurring with such alarming regularity.
Our children are depending on us to protect them from harm; are we up to
the challenge?