Thursday, January 18, 2018

Should we really rush to "fix" it?

I'm pondering this morning as I listen to the story once again of the Turpin family in California that had 13 children and then locked them up, literally, in the house.  There is really no details - which I do not want - no explanation - which there isn't one regardless and yet a Senator is already introducing or asking or politicking for more laws so this never happens again.

Should we really cater to the sickest amongst us?

That's what keeps rattling around in my head.  I feel like when something horrific happens the media rushes to get us "all the answers" and officials rush to "make it against the law".  My two issues are there is no reasonable explanation why two people have 13 children and then torture them.  All the experts in the world can pontificate but it doesn't make it better. And it doesn't make me feel better.  I have come to know and understand that as humans we need explanation. That we crave order in chaos.

Being the old woman that I am I think of it like this: When we hear that two parents have not only had 13 kids (Holy Hurt Locker Batman) but that they have locked them, chained them, and tortured them in their own house my brain is so overloaded it freezes and the hourglass starts to spin.

(trigger anyone?) This causes distress and I desperately search for the Escape key in my brain trying to reset. Reset! Reset!

That reset button can take of the form of NPR, Fox News, the internet, ( in my case pulling the covers over my head) or all of the above. I just keep pushing all the buttons hoping one will be the reset and PUFF! Life can go back to the way it was before I heard that awful bit of information.

I also have to wonder about that person that steps up immediately to take action to "make sure this never happens again". What's in it for them? Did their brain not get stuck? It didn't need a reset? It processed the information so clearly and quickly that it knew immediately what needed to be done?

Or did they not process it at all? I have to wonder, cause that's what this brain does. Did they even feel the depth and weight of the situation or did they just slide across like when you hit a patch of ice and almost fall but right yourself at the last minute. And ---- sigh----- you look around and puff up a little saying "Yeah - I goooood."

Is the person who rushes to action to fix it, really fixing it? Are they really thinking of those who are living it? I can not even begin to imagine what it will take for those children to comprehend what has happened to them, let alone heal.  This was not an act perpetrated by an unknown assailant (which is horrific)- these were their parents. The people who are suppose to love them the most and protect them the fiercest. What do they need right now?

Should California Home School laws change? Maybe. Should neighbors pay more attention to who they live next to and what is going on there? Maybe.  Should we really rush to "fix" it?