On a good day, I don't condone violence. But the day you run into the heroin dealer who has been slowly but surely leading your son down a destructive path is not a good day. In fact, it might be the day you pull a Sherrie Gavan and grab a baseball bat to take care of business!
Hey, I wouldn't blame you. I certainly don't blame Gavan, the St. Louis, Missouri mom who is facing charges of third-degree assault for allegedly taking an aluminum baseball bat to 21-year-old Joshua Loyd, her son's alleged dealer. Yes, she was wrong, and she deserves to be punished (sorry folks). But that doesn't mean she wasn't right too!
Confused? How can something wrong possibly be right and vice versa? Because this is life, and life is full of contradictions like fat-free ice cream and people who say they are seriously kidding (seriously?). One of my greatest struggles as a parent is teaching my kid how some things in life can be OK in some instances and not in others. And one of my greatest personal struggles is the hypocrisy of feeling one way but knowing I have to act another.
The brain inside my head knows that hitting someone isn't right -- I won't even hit my own child as a punishment. I know that taking justice into your own hands is wrong. We have a legal system for a reason, and vigilantes tend to make the job harder for the police instead of really getting anything done. I don't actually blame the judge who is refusing to throw out this case and demanding that Gavan face the charges.
But here's where the sympathy comes in. I wish it was always my brain that was guiding me, but it isn't. Right now I feel like going out and beating up your kid's drug dealer is the right thing to do. So I get it. I really do!
Can't you just picture yourself standing in this woman's shoes? Gavan said she took away his cellphone, had him change high schools, sent him out of the area to live with relatives, instituted frequent drug testing, and nothing helped her. Her kid just kept slipping back down the slippery slope of addiction. If you've never been around an addict, you may not understand just how frustrating it is, how hopeless you feel in the face of a monster that is literally eating away at someone you love little by little.
So maybe she snapped. Heck, even if this was a calculated plan, I still have sympathy. She didn't just sit there and let the hopeless feelings take over. She got 'er done! So here's hoping the judge punishes her ... but not too hard!
What do you think should be the punishment for what cops say this mom dad?
Image via LifeSupercharger/Flickr