Who's To Blame?
There was an article today in the Kentucky Kernel written by the Mike Muth, father of Brian Muth, the UK student who picked up by the police at a party for under-age drinking, and was hit and killed by a car while trying to cross New Circle Road intoxicated when released from the Fayette County Detention center. The article calls for UK to do a better job of protecting its tudents from such alchohol related trgedies, such as having UK authorities do a better job of monitoring party size. This all comes in response to the recent death of another student due to another under-age, alchohol-related death.While I am sad for the loss that Mr. Muth has experienced, it angers me to see that he still blames UK for his son's poor decisions. It seems that he wants to blame everyone but his son for what happened that night. Let's look at the facts:
1) Brian was under-age and drinking at a party.
2) He got drunk with a blood-alchohol level fo .103
3) The police arrested him because he was under-age, thus doing their job.
4) Brian was later released an hour later, still under the influence of alchohol, and was killed when he was hit by a tractor trailer on New Circle Road while attempting to cross.
Now let's look at each fact in detail, and compare them to Mr. Muth's article:
1) He was under-age at a college party, in a situation that he didn't belong in for many reasons. How is this UK's fault? It isn't. It is the parent's responsibility to teach their children to avoid situations like these, not UK's. The college campus is an adult world. You don't have your parents there to watch your every move like high school. Therefore, before college, high school, middle school even, parents have to teach their kids about avoiding these situations, even though there may be a hundred other peers there taking part.
2) He was drunk. And I doubt it was the first time, either. Most college tudents come into college already having alchohol experience in high school. Once again, just another reason why responsibility has to be taught early.
3) The police did their job. Brian was breaking the law, and he got arrested. Mr. Muth compares his son and the recent student who was killed in a variety of different ways, including the fact that they were "both extremely frightened and made poor choices as a result of their encounter with the police and the situation they found themselves in." This statement makes me sick. First of all, he says that your son made a poor choice because of the police. I've got news for you: he made poor choices because he was drunk, and even that resulted from the poor choice of deciding to drink in the first place. Don't blame the police for doing their job. Their not there to comfort drunken 19-year olds and make them feel safe. They are there to protect the public, and that includes arresting 19-year olds who are drunk and are bound to make more bad decisions that will put innocent people in danger. Secondly, says that poor choices were made because of the situation. This is true, but that all could have been avoided if Brian had made the correct decision to stay sober to begin with. Later, Mr. Muth says that the boys had to make "life-threatening decisions in a state of mind in which they did not have the rational capability to do so." Another true statement, but yet something that could have been avoided from the get go.
4) Upon his release, Brian was still drunk, and was hit by a truck while trying to cross New Circle Road late at night. An "adult" signed off for his release, thus forcing the police to release him. It seems to me that some blame ahould be pointed to this adult, no doubt a friend of Brian. If this guy or girl were a true friend, they would have left Brian in jail to sober up, or at least take him home themselves. Instead, this young person let Brian go about his business, thinking that he would make it home alright. That was not the case, of course.
Don't get me wrong, I feel for those who lost a loved one when Brian was killed. However, I am sick of parents blaming others for the bad decsions of their children. they only have themselves to blame. Brian made a string of poor choices that night, all of which began when he decided to get drunk. I don't know what it is with our society that we feel that it is normal for a 19 year-old college student to go get drunk. Students feel that they have the right to get drunk without any responsibility for their safety or the safety of others, simply because they are a college student.
It saddens me when I see all of these students lives' revolving around their party/drinking schedule. Is it a wonder that we have so many divorces, so much marital unfaithfulness, so much spouse/child abuse, so many kids growing up in poverty? I would dare say that alchohol can be directly or partially blamed for many of these things that we see and hear in our society everyday. Very few people start drinking when they are middle aged. It starts when they are young, at the dawn of their adulthood when a whole new world of responsibility is opened to them. And if they are not prepared for that new world that they face, they will most likely make bad decisions. That is why it is so essential that parent teach their children to make good choices early on inlife. It will be easier to make those decisions when they reach college. It's time that people start taking responsibility for their own decsions, as well as parents taking responsibilty for the choices of their children, and stop having the attitude of "Hey, it's college Everybody drinks in college. They'll grow out of it, their jsut experimenting." Untill then, nothing will change. Students will continue to get drunk, continue to make bad decisions, and continue to bring tragedy to a place that should be full of joy, hope, and promise.
posted by Wes @ 10:17 AM
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