A Sad Announcement
 

Subject: "A Sad Announcement"


Today we mourn the passing of an old friend, Common Sense. Common Sense lived a long life, but died in the United States from heart failure on the brink of the new millennium. No one really knows how old he was, since his birth records were lost long ago in bureaucratic red tape.
He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, and factories, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness.
For decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adults are in charge, not the kids), and it's okay to come in second.
A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, and the Technological Revolution, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including body piercing, Whole language, and "new math."
But his health declined when he became infected with the "If-it-only-helps-one-person-it's-worth-it" virus.
In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of well intentioned but overbearing regulations. He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers.
His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero tolerance policies. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.
It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parent when a female student was pregnant or wanted an abortion.
Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from the Boy Scouts to professional sports.
When a woman, too stupid to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, was awarded a huge settlement, Common Sense threw in the towel.
As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding questionable regulations such as those for low flow toilets, rocking chairs, stepladders and auto emissions.
Common Sense finally succumbed when, while the United States was fighting a war on terrorism, a federal judge declared the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers: My Rights, and Ima Whiner.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

whatever

Re: A Sad Announcement
 

That's a good one!!!;)

You'd fit in great in my house.

Play nice, or you'll have to take your toys and go home :)

Re: A Sad Announcement
 

Definitely

Let the CHURCH say YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MEN :D

he he he. Funny, but I have to diagree with this one

"It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but could not inform the parent when a female student was pregnant or wanted an abortion."

People can have bad reactions to Asprin, since it blocks two classes of COX enzymes: those that synthesize protective prostiglandins in your stomach and kidneys and those that synthesize protiglandins invloved in pain and inflammation. We are all familiar with peole developing stomach pain when taking asprin for a long time. Some people have a higher tolerance to asprin than others. If you gave asprin to a kid that had a low tolerance, you could have some very angry parents when the child has stomach bleeding. Bettter to document medical history and get permission before you hurt someone out of ignorance.

Second, is that parents ofen do not react in a supportive manner when a teenage girl is pregnant or wants an abortion. Sometimes parents won't let a girl make a decision she wants to make, or thinks is the best for her life. I know that sometimes girls are very young, but parents don't always do the right thing under such circumstances, and they don't always support her trhough what is obviously a tough time. It is not up to society to "tattle" on a teenage girl who is pregnant. If she wants to tell her parents, that is her decision.

My big thing is that parents do not own their children. They have a duty to make decisions in their best interest when they are young, but when they are older, parents can't make decisions for them.
-M

I understand what you're saying, and I agree, but I think you missed the point there. I think what the author was trying to say was that a young girl can make the decision to have unprotected sex and run the risk or pregnancy, and the same girl can also make her own decision whether she can have an abortion or not, but she can make the decision on her own to take an asprin without parental consent. The point is that this person is either capable of making their own decision or she's not.