By now most of Ned's literate followers are aware of the lawsuit filed in New York (of course! He hears from his audience) by the family members of an 87-year-old woman run down by a 4-year-old on a training bike. The unfortunate victim died sometime thereafter of "unrelated" causes.
Now the first responses from Ned's more libertarian readers will no doubt consist of an intemporate tirade against lawyers and trigger-happy liberals. Some timid souls, however, may dare to suggest that children should not be allowed to careen out of control down sidewalks and paths, riding bicycles, tricycles and, worst of all, skateboards and variants thereof, running into innocent elderly bystanders without some consequences to some responsible adults.
After careful meditation, Ned comes down on the latter side, considering the issue to be intertwined with a damnable Culture of Youth pervasive in this society. He is sick of parents and caregivers who abdicate responsibility for the behavior of their offspring or their charges. While the idea of suing a 4-year-old has its absurd dimensions, Ned feels somebody ought to be held responsible, and be forced to do time or pay up, and that is what insurance, or a libertarian philosophy, is for.
Yesterday, at the maw where I work sometimes, a man came looking for his missing child. Said three-year old had wandered away. "Dad" had been talking on his cell phone for thirty to forty-five minutes, based on accounts of staffers, as his two young children - he thought - played in the kids's section. One of our staffers found the child wandering down the aisle on the upper level of the maw, er mall, total walking distance would be about a hundred yards, and would involve climbing a long staircase. Dad's response when told his charge had been located was to try and hand-off - literallly hand his other child - to a staffer to attend while he went to reclaim the first kid. Staffer, not so politely, declined the offer.
ReplyDeleteDad's final comment, "I was only on the phone a second!" I was for introducing Dad to the local constabulary for a consultation but that was poo-pooed.