Michael Braun's Blog

Oh how my wild dreams have come true. A blog post of mine has generated some real debate! And all that needed to happen was the death of 7 children. To tell you the truth, I think it was worth it. But that post and the deaths of these children has sparked a big debate as to how responsible the parents are who told their 15 year old daughter to drive their car. I am going to give a wrap up of the issues and encourage anyone with anything else to say to go ahead and leave a comment.

A) The driver of the truck killed these children. No matter who was driving this truck driver failed to stop. Whether breaking the law or not, the van has the right to stop without being hit from behind, even if the driver is driving illegally.

B) The parents of the children no doubt feel themselves responsible for the deaths of their children and neices and are hugely remorseful. They will suffer because of their choice to let their daughter drive for the rest of their lives.

C) Nevertheless, the parents were wrong to tell their daugher to drive. No matter the difficulties the parents were under, no matter anything that may have made riding the bus difficult or impossible for the children, no matter the parents’ work situations, no matter how responsible the daughter is – the parents were not correct (morally or legally) to let their daughter drive their van.

D) The parents are not victims. Because they told their daughter to drive their van and made a mistake in doing so, these parents cannot be called the victims of the accident. Only the 7 children who died can be called victims. And the children and driver of the bus who were injured.

E) The consequences of our choices determine what the punishment for those choices should be. In this case, should these parents be tried for allowing their daughter to drive, the consequences of that choice ought to be greater than had the daughter gotten pulled over for speeding. At the same time, the fact that the parents broke the law does not mean they will not be punished without a trial. If they are never tried, convicted or sentenced, they are already in prison. And they will live in that prison for the rest of their lives knowing that they themselves created the prison. They are being punished.

I believe that these five points are indisputable. But I might be wrong. Let me know if you agree or disagree. It’s been a great debate so far.