SINGAPORE - Singapore executed a 25-year-old Australian on Friday for drug trafficking, after he had a "beautiful last visit" with his family. Australia's leader protested the sentence, saying it would damage ties.
OK, here is the deal.
Singapore is tough. Ask the kid who was caned a few years back for tagging cars with spray paint. He was just a ‘misguided American kid’ who was unfairly treated according to his parents.
The young man who was hung yesterday was misguided as well, but had learned the error of his ways according to his parents and lawyer.
Ok, let’s break this down, shall we?
Maybe, there are still places in the world where ‘when you break the law’; you get your butt kicked for it. You don’t get to hide behind Mom and Dad or give all kinds of excuses about why you should not be held responsible for your actions.
There are places where breaking the rules means getting your knuckles cracked and not a lot of discussion in regards to your rights as a person. You broke the rules, there are consequences, deal with it.
The young man from Australia was caught with heroin on his person. This is illegal in all kinds of places; in Singapore, they hang you for it.
How the hell do you not know that before you bring it into the country? Do we now add ignorance of the law to the issue?
To the parents, of the young man, I feel for you. I hate that you had to suffer the end result of this action. But it doesn’t change the fact, that there were some major flaws in decision making and in the end, the Government of Singapore are not the ‘bad guys.’ It is their country, their rules and if you want to play in their arena, you get to follow the rules.
I can’t help but think that the root cause might just be that we have lost control of civility here. We forgot to teach our kids that when you screw up, we are not bailing you out; or as in this case, we could not, even if we wanted to.
On that note, I attach the following article.
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Hartford police fines high school students for cursing
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November 30, 2005, 10:36 AM EST
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ Bad words are costing Hartford Public and Bulkeley high schoolers $103 each.
Police officers assigned to the schools have fined about two dozen students for cursing in a new program to curtail unruly behavior. The joint effort by school and police officials targets students who swear while defying teachers and administrators.
"We're sending a message to the parents and to the teachers," said Sandy Cruz-Serrano, senior adviser to Superintendent of Schools Robert Henry. "We are trying to bring back order to the schools."
Parents are required to pay the fines if the students cannot (I like this part.)
"Our heads are spinning with that," said Sam Saylor, president of the district Parent Teacher Organization. "The kids are really indecent with their swearing and they're swearing at teachers. This is their way of curtailing it _ making the parents pay."
Keila Ayala, 17, a Hartford Public sophomore, said she was ticketed for shouting an expletive in an officer's face while handcuffed for taking a swing at him.
"It'll stop me from swearing," she said. "Well, it won't stop me from swearing, but I won't cuss at the teachers."
George Sugai, who teaches school discipline at UConn's Neag School of Education, is skeptical of the effort. "Research says that punishing kids doesn't teach them the right way to act," he said.
OK, I give up.
George, how does one reason with a 17 year old that finds it ‘all right’ to swear at teachers?
Apparently, “Time Out” has clearly not worked so well up to this point.
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