The original intent of my original blog post has been obscured and it's my own fault. I'm sure it was very aggravating to deal with the school district board member(s). Sometimes people in positions like that get a false sense of power and lord that power over people. If that's the case, and I have no reason to doubt you, I wish I knew who this person or group of people was so I could vote him/her out of office. It's true I don't know the back story, and I'm sure it was difficult to just accept the arbitrary decision of a possibly vindictive individual. So you fought. I don't blame you.
So here's how I wish I had worded the story:
Bret Boyle is very lucky. He has parents and supporters who love and care for him so much that they would go to court to defend him.
That unnamed girl with the cerebral palsy is not so lucky. Her own body can't help her dial a phone to report her abuser. Her own mother sold her to her abuser. If it were not for the abuser's own decision to "brag" about his good fortune to someone else, that girl would be stilll be in her unimaginably horrible position today.
Bret Boyle got his story on the front page of the Metro section. He continues to live with his loving family in his safe environment with his fully functional body and unmaimed spirit intact. Can't you see how lucky he is? Even though he lost his case? Can't you? That's all I wanted to point out.
There's unfair, and then there's "unfair."
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It appears the friends and relations of the kid in this story are starting to read what I had to say. To the surprise of none, they didn't like it. They would like me to identify myself, "as reporters do."
Well, first, I'm no one of consequence. I'm nobody on the school board, nobody elected to any kind of office, and nobody who knows Bret's family personally. But I won't identify myself, because I've written opinions about political issues, about the quality of American women, and about David Soul's music career which have caused individuals even more easily bent out of shape than yourselves to go crazy. So, for my own safety, I will not identify my real name or location.
That being said, I do have a response for you. I put it in the comment section. In case you don't read it there, I will post it here as well:
I'm not a newspaper reporter. I'm an everyday citizen with an opinion -- just like people who send letters to the editor. Sometimes those are unnamed, too.
If you don't like my opinions, you're welcome to dispute them here. I'm not going to sue you if I don't like what you have to say.
Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps this kid would be psychologically harmed by attending a high school across town. If that's the case, he has problems a mere school transfer won't solve.
What happens when he doesn't get into the college of his choosing? Or the girl he wants to go to prom with turns him down? Who will his family sue then?
As I meant to say in my blog post, teaching him to deal with life's ups and downs is far more valuable than teaching him that he should tie up the courts suing for things until he gets his way.
If you are going to literally make a case of your issue by going to court, and allow the newspapers to print your story because you mistakenly believe it paints you in a sympathetic light, then you are going to have to face the consequences that come when someone disagrees with you.
Facing consequences bravely, with grace and dignity, is an admirable trait to posess.
That's why I paired Bret's story with the other one, about the 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. She didn't choose to have such severe cerebral palsy that she couldn't control her movements. She didn't choose to have a mother so evil and sleazy that she would sell the rights to abuse her daughter to a known sex offender. Yet despite all that she's had to overcome, she faced the situation and did what she could to protect herself. That took courage.
So I don't want to hear any whiny bullshit about "what Bret's family went through" because they couldn't outmaneouver the system to their own benefit. It doesn't hold a candle to what that girl went through.
Addendum: Actually, I should thank these people for making my point for me. Remember Marie Antoinette saying, "Let them eat cake?" She said that because she honestly couldn't conceive of a life where someone didn't have enough to eat. When the royals were told there was no bread for the peasants, she didn't think that meant there was no food at all, she thought they just had to choose something else for dinner.
Likewise, there are obviously people for whom petty grievances are the only grievances they know. They still believe they were horribly wronged, because this is the worst thing they've had to contend with. I don't know what to say. I'm sort of mocking the family, yes. I shouldn't. They aren't trying to be petty. Life is just different for them than it is for a poor girl with cerebral palsy. Different worlds, people. That's what I meant to point out in the first place. Comfortable people view the slightest discomfort as major.
