By now, most of the country knows that Georgia is in a State of Emergency because of the drought. What not many know is that Georgia still has to send water to Florida to support mussles. Since when did mussles become more important than the survival of people?
(Update: some GA counties need to reduce water consumption by 10%)
A few years ago, Genarlow Wilson was given a 10 year jail sentence for being intimate with his girlfriend two years younger. Now the case has been brought back to the forefront. In the usual Georgian style, things have gone on in this case that make absolutely no sense at all.
Things like why the mother of the 15 year old and the 15 year old were contacted by the state and told to testify in a certain way or have the 15 year old thrown in jail with the 17 year old.
Or how come the state decided to prosecute this one set of teens and not go after all the other minors doing the same thing?
Who had the idea that two consenting teens is equivalent to child molestation?
Most importantly, why are people surprised by this?
If we’re sending off our kids to a school system that teaches them about and how to have intercourse with others, why are we surprised when they try it?
We shouldn’t be. Premarital sex is wrong and it has huge disadvantages after the fact, but we do have to take responsibility. If we aren’t giving our kids a good foundation and taking time to explain why they shouldn’t have relations before they’re married, we shouldn’t expect them to hold that conviction. Especially when the majority of their friends are doing the same thing.
At the same time, it isn’t the government’s role to intervene when it comes to two consenting minors. This is a classic example of the state usurping the parent’s role. The reason is simple, we’ve let the government control too much of our lives and we have grown lazy. If we don’t want the state to keep intervening than we need to stand up and take our responsibilities back.
Most of the people following the case, and even myself have seen this as an obstruction of justice. However, this really boils down to a consequence of avoiding the most important responsibility adults have - to train their children in the way they should go.
Absurdities illustrate themselves once again in the State of Georgia.
Governor Perdue announced that he will sign the bill requiring middle school aged girls to get the HPV vaccine as soon as it gets out of the General Assembly. Simultaneously, the abortion ban (HB1) is still in the House Judiciary Committee.
What is this saying?
We’ll let our youth “go play in traffic” because they’re wearing a helmet. Yet, when it comes to protecting the unborn we turn a blind eye. What are we thinking?
Whenever I watch the local news or read the headlines in the various online news sources, I tend to notice that there are many questions never asked. Recently Texas passed a law that makes 11 year old girls receive injections for cervical Cancer/HPV virus mandatory if they want to be in school. What wasn’t mentioned in the report I saw on my local station was that the HPV virus is a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer. Throughout the sound-bite they naturally talk about how good of an idea it is. However they failed to ask:
What are the side effects of the decision?
What is this saying to little kids?
Unfortunately no one seems to be thinking this issue through. Telling your daughter she needs to get a shot for cervical cancer at 11 is like giving her birth control and walking off saying “they’re gonna do it anyway”. Sadly, too many people do this already.
Ultimately what this mindset is telling my generation is: “Okay hunny, We don’t want you to have relations before your time (marriage) but if you do here’s what you should have”. That reaction is not communicating love to a young adult. Rather it is a display of apathy in one of it’s worst forms - indifference. For a parent to be indifferent about their child’s life is telling their child that they don’t care.
While seemingly teens may want their parents not to interfere - you know you’re cared about when your parents sit you down and explain why abstinence is necessary rather than just giving you a pill.
