Let me first start this off by saying I am completely against lawsuits, except perhaps when it comes to major corporations that wrong an individual or a group of people. Even then, I am on the fence. But today, I am talking about large scale, multiple party lawsuits. Rather, I am going to talk about perhaps the worst kind, the one filed in hopes of making a point or seeking revenge for some old wrong enacted upon a person. There is a lawsuit that was recently filed against a local high school in regards to two students who were acting inappropriately and as a result injured each other. I can't speak about specifics, but what I can say is that one student did something stupid that resulted in a minor burn on another student's arm. The student that was the recipient of the first burn retaliated and caused an even worse burn on the first student's fingers. The burn was not a result of open flame, and unfortunately, that is all I can say. The teacher was in the room with the two students, intervened between the two incidents telling the students to be careful, watch what they were doing, and to behave. When the teacher's back was turned, the second incident occurred and as soon as the teacher was aware of what happened, she sent both students immediately to the nurse. The student who instigated the whole ordeal and as a result received the worse of the two burns had to go for further treatment for the burns, all because he was an idiot and was acting inappropriately in the classroom. The mother picked this student up, was fairly open with the teacher saying that her son was an idiot and probably deserved what he got. She made light of the situation, saying it wasn't a big deal, and made it seem like the incident was over and done with. Well, when the father found out about what happened, he wanted revenge. The fact that his son was at fault, instigated the whole ordeal, and ended up with third degree burns because of his own stupidity made no difference. He was set on making a point and instead of letting his son deal with his own idiocy, decided to take it into his own hands and sue the school. I'm sorry, but can a situation get any more ridiculous than this?
How in the world is this high school student going to learn how to deal with the consequences of his actions if his father is going to step in to hold his hand and seek out vengeance on his behalf for every stupid thing he does? The worst part about this is that this student started the whole ordeal, acted stupid in class, and was retaliated against by another student. That should be his punishment, the third degree burns that he got. Yet no, this father who has a grudge against someone or something decides he needs to file a lawsuit to make a point. What kind of point is he making exactly? The teacher did all she could to prevent this from happening and yet when her back was turned, the students acted like idiots and burned themselves. Let it go. This lawsuit will do nothing but make every class more difficult and cumbersome in addition to giving the stupid student the idea that he can act with impunity because if someone acts against him, he can just sue. For the rest of this child's life (for that's what he is, a child), he will think that lawsuits are the only way to resolve an issue. There used to be a time, a long time ago now, where if a student acted like an idiot in class and got hurt as a result, the parents would probably hurt him more. Now, I'm not saying that it is the right way to do things, but letting a student deal with the repercussions of his actions on his own is a much better way for him to learn about the world than to file a lawsuit on his behalf. If my son was ever in a similar situation and acted like an idiot, I would probably laugh at him and say something to the effect of, "I bet you won't do that again, will you?" I won't react in anger and seek to right the wrong that he began in the first place. Its his fault, let him deal with it, period.
I've spoken about lawsuits before, yet every time I hear of another instance where someone feels the need to sue over something stupid, it angers me to no end. We currently live in a society where no matter what happens, people can sue. If there is a crack in a city sidewalk and someone trips and falls over it, they can sue the city because they were an idiot and weren't watching where they were walking. If someone closes their finger in the door of a business, they can sue the business because the door closed to quickly and the tension wasn't right on the closer. If someone wipes their butt too hard after going to the bathroom, they can sue the toilet paper company because the paper is too rough and caused irreparable skin damage. (OK, maybe the last case is pushing it, but you get my point). No matter what happens to people these days, they always have lawsuits as a recourse. In my mind, its sad and pathetic. People don't have the ability any more to deal with their own idiocy. We now live in a society where we have to watch everything we do, every word we say, and every step we take because heaven forbid someone feels slighted by something we do. If it happens, they might use us and ruin our lives. I for one think we should abolish all lawsuits and bring back the old form of resolving issues, put the two people in a ring and let them fight it out, gladiator style. No more suing, just fighting. Whats better, we could charge people admission and perhaps make some extra money for our starving economy. I know, that will never happen, but sometimes its nice to dream. For now, I need to stop writing about lawsuits because as I do, I despise lawsuits and the lawyers who file them more and more. Blood sucking leeches is what they are. I say its time to step up and take responsibility for our actions and if someone wrongs us, forgive them, period.
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