Tell you what Marie, when that little whipper snapper lights a fire that burns down 1500 homes at a loss of upwards of a billion dollars and your family is facing the litigation involved to fight of 1500 separate suits, please drop me a note to damn me for actually giving a fig what happens to you.
what’s it like to be perfect? ‘cause I’d sure like to know. You MUST live alone. I don’t know how anyone could ever measure up to your expectations. If not, I’d like to meet the two perfect people on the planet. Would you have someone arrange an audience with you for me me someday? /sarcasm.
What I'm saying is that I don't consider my kid that unusual. What happened is horrible. It's tragic. It's sad.
But it could've happened to many, *many* healthy, happy families. It was a terrible combination of the child, the parents, the timing, the wind, the drought, the brush... of this *year* in southern California that made *this* fire (out of many) happen.
I cannot see the logic or the justification for crucifying the kid or the parents for something that could've happened so easily to others. (And I *know* there are many parents reading this story with their hair standing up on end, looking at their kid and cringing.)
We prosecute to punish. We prosecute to protect society from those who would do harm. This kid has to live with the consequences of his actions and that is probably punishment enough. Odds are, this kid had no intention to burn down 1500 homes. (Or even one, for that matter.) I doubt he'll do it again.
My original objection was that you implied that a good parent can prevent a child from any serious fault. Kids have accidents all the time and most of the time it's just that; a horrible accident. We don't cast blame every single time something bad happens. Such is life.
Why is this different from the thousands (millions?) of other times kids have played with matches? Because more people were affected? How can a child fully understand that? How can a kid digest *these* consequences and learn to live with it? What do you want to happen? Do you want the kid thrown in juvenile detention? You want his life ruined? Would you prefer his parents thrown in prison and the family broken up? How 'bout just throwing the family into bankruptcy? Would that teach this 9 year old his lesson to your satisfaction?
In the end, we're looking at the same *action* that many, *many* other kids have done. It just had a different outcome. The boy played with matches.
(Just for the record, I never "damned" you for a damn thing. And, from your original post, I didn't see you "giving a fig" about the family's troubles at all.)