Making Excuses

We all make excuses at some point in time. It seems now, though, that people make up excuses for everything. Nobody accepts responsibility anymore. For example, last year I had a student who drew some inappropriate drawings in class. The drawings were this child's distinctive style and done on the child's notebook paper, which had a distinctive icon in the corner. When I confronted the child about it, he blushed deeply and admitted to the drawings, but couldn't answer what had motivated him to do such a thing. When I called the parent to discuss the situation, the parent first asked if I would make a house call, because it was inconvenient for them to have to drive to the school (despite the fact that they picked their children up every day). When I declined, they agreed to come in to view the drawing and discuss the situation further. Upon seeing the drawings, they informed me that I had made a mistake, that their child would never do something like that. Despite the fact that it was the child's artistic style, the child's distinctive paper AND he had admitted to me that he had done it, I was wrong. Alright. Well. My apologies for jumping to conclusions. That child continued to be a discipline problem throughout the year. Never the child's fault.

So tonight I was watching a news story on a woman who is in the area after she fled from New Orleans. She has 5 children and is living in a hotel nearby. She called the police yesterday after her oldest, an 11-year-old, didn't return home at night. Police arrived at her hotel room to investigate further and found that the children were living total filth. I mean, human and animal feces. Literal filth. Of course, the children were removed. Now the mother is appearing on local stations, crying, begging for her children back. She says that the filth is not her fault, that they are victims of Hurricane Katrina, that she has no choice but to live this way. This bothers me. Because yes, she is a victim of a natural disaster. Yes, she has a horrible living situation. Yes, times are rough. But there is NO reason for your children to live in those conditions. Do I have a soft spot? Absolutely. But really. This woman has a history of child neglect, but swears that she has changed. And yet, authorities find her children covered in human waste. So the woman goes to court. And the local judge drops all but one of the child neglect charges and claims the woman has a valid argument. Which is why, I believe, you have people make excuses for their behavior all the time. Because we have courts who allow it....and children covered in waste.

Argh.