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Re: [RC] UAE Involvement in AERC Functions - heidiOK, Heidi You got me out of my DWR mode---Just a cotton-pickin" minute here (yes, pun intended)! It seems we did as a nation legislate morality when we banned slavery, murder, stealing.... although as you say, it did not completely end the problems, I hope you are not proposing that we stop legislating --- No, Bette, we need not stop legislating--but we do need to stop deluding ourselves into thinking that passing laws is sufficient to solve the problems. Real solutions come from changing conditions and changing people. And that is a slow process. BTW, I don't know if you've heard the stats from the past years--crimes such as theft are down somewhat--but murder is up. And in too many cases, crimes such as child molestation occur because people who are quite willing to pass laws "don't want to get involved" when it is happening right next door. It is damned inconvenient sometimes to intervene. I did so in a case several years ago, and ended up having to hire a lawyer to defend myself against a suit brought by the abusive parents for "parental interference." The suit only got as far as the discovery phase--my attorney did his homework, and once he got hold of the girl's mother and started to question her in depth, their attorney turned white as a sheet, called my attorney into the back room for a chat, and the case was promptly dismissed. (And their attorney dropped them as clients.) I was still out a lot of time, gut-wrenching, and money. The good news is that the girl did eventually get out of the abusive home, grew up and married happily, and became a good mother herself, instead of repeating the abuse cycle. Another time that I intervened, I got a call from 911 informing me that an irate drug-addicted mother was headed my way with a gun, and they wanted to alert me in case the deputies did not get to my house before she did. In that case, it was an abused boy--and he ended up living with a very decent stepfather following a divorce, graduating from high school with honors, and going into the Air Force. It is people who make the difference--not necessarily laws. But once again, people have to BE THERE to make a difference--even when it isn't very fun. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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