With all due respect, I must disagree. Things like this can happen to anyone.
First of all she was 17 (?18). When I was 18, I ruled the world. I could vote. I could drink and I went on a cruise on my senior trip. This was in 1972.
But I am now 51 and age and experience have taught me how much I did not know then. Having raised 3 sons (one just 14, the other 2 24 and 26) I know how stupid/dumb/naive 18 year olds can be.
Some people, especially kids, know evil is out there, but the reality of that evil is abstract.
We all make bad choices. we all bear a responsibility for those choices. But many of those choices are a result of being human, rather than a character issue.
It is very appropriate to use this a a lesson for our children. When a kid dies as a result of carelessness on the road one would think it would be a trigger for his or her classmates to change their reckless behavior. It's not. More than likely, within a day or two, they will go back to the very behavior that puts them at such a risk. "It can't/won't happen to me." These lessons are lost on many in that age group, because they are in that age group.
Natalee bears no blame for what happened to her. Nor do her parents.
That was perfectly put. Thank you for your post.
Natalee bears no blame for what happened to her. Nor do her parents
####
Isn't it strange how few people see it this way. I equate her fatal evening to the sad outcomes that can and do happen year in and year out among kids her age -
Well said!
Yes. Well stated.
Natalee bears no blame for what happened to her. Nor do her parents.
Blame? Perhaps not. Responsibility? Certainly. The vast majority of young people thankfully never end up raped and murdered. This is not just due to fate. Sound decisions usually make for good fortune.
PtBoR, I agree with you on many of your points; that kids this age do think they are infallible. But, I'm sticking with my point that had better choices been made by Natalee, her parents, her chaperones and her friends, Natalee would have been somewhere other than in that car with those boys. Given the "infallibility" of Natalee and others her age, and the fact that they are likely to make poor choices, I feel there is more justification for pointing some fingers at *all* the parents and chaperones who in actuality, set these kids up for bad things to happen.
I began my post saying that "while this girl didn't deserve to die the night she was killed" because I also believe that even given all the rotten choices surrounding her being an underage drinker on the island of Aruba & getting in that car, she most certainly didn't deserve the punishment that had befallen her.
But parents and adults need to be just that. Yes, mistakes and accidents will happen. But this needs to be talked about now, as probably thousands of other parents have purchased celebratory tickets for their graduating teens to travel to destinations around the globe just as Natalee did.
One thing bothering me is the fact that Natalee wasn't even legal to drink in Aruba. We all know that's what they were paying for. These kids wanted to celebrate with alcohol, so it made all the adults feeeeeeel better knowing that their children would be doing it "legally" in Aruba. However, we are now being told that Natalee wasn't yet age 18.
I think this part of the story tells a lot about how rules and lessons were taught in Natalee's home. Sending Natalee with her parents' blessing, to lie and break the law in Aruba so that she could participate in alcoholic activities with her fellow graduates doesn't teach responsibility. It teaches cutting corners, disrespect for authority, lying and breaking the law.
Yes, Natalee and everyone around her made some awful choices. And yes, sometimes "things happen." Sometimes, we choose the wrong way to go because of our humanness. But disagree with you because I *do* think there are also character issues involved here. A person of character wouldn't encourage their child to break the law. A person of character wouldn't watch a bunch of teenagers get so darn drunk without some constant & sober supervision by adults. A person of character would be more than just good grades.
Natalee didn't deserve the punishment she ultimately received. May the Lord comfort her friends and family.