Thread: Free Responsibility

Free Responsibility


Remember the summer of 1984?

Besides Van Halen’s ‘Jump’, there was another song that played that whole summer long. It was Prince’s tune, ‘When Doves Cry.’ That song started with the line, “Dig if you will a picture…” and so does this tale.

Dig if you will a picture.

Imagine a young woman between the age of 17 and 21, perhaps younger, perhaps older. She has a short bobbed haircut that is dyed a funny off-orange color. As if there was a non-funny off orange color right? Most orange hair looks like a hydrogen peroxide experiment gone drastically wrong. ( I have pictures of my own hair during my senior year to prove the hydrogen peroxide point) At the base of the orange mess are all of her black roots showing through. There was a time when roots showing meant it was time for a re-dye, but hers looked like she had it done that way on purpose.

Our young lady has a very pretty face below her interesting ‘do’, and she must know it because she has decided to adorn it with multiple piercings. She has enough metal protruding from every part of her skin that can be pierced to ensure that she will never get through airport security the first (or second) time. The next time you are sitting on a plane and the departure is delayed an hour, don’t rule out some human pincushion as the cause of it. It must be an incredible pain for some of these people if they ever need to go in for an MRI. So much metal and all those high-powered magnets.

That thought alone gives me the willies.

Below her perforated head, she has on a very tight tank top that appears to be 5 sizes to short. I have been told since then that this was not an accident and that those kinds of shirts are called baby-girl shirts. The concept is nice in theory, but it truly needs to be applied to the right individual to create the desired effect.

This was not the right individual.

The girl’s entire belly was exposed and as I said before this would not be a bad thing, but considering her ‘delicate condition' she could have chosen something more, um, appropriate. That’s right good readers, this young lady was quite pregnant and I don’t just mean a little. Her belly was sticking out further than the average starving Ethiopian child’s. I’d like to think I am fairly open minded when it comes to what other people want to wear, but there is nothing even remotely attractive or cool about a huge pregnant belly hanging out over a pair of hip huggers. Isn’t that why they make maternity clothes in the first place? Add the too small tank top and the thong hanging out the back of her pants and you have the stuff my nightmares of made of. Oh sure, from the back she looked good but seeing that distended gut jutting out completely naked was like seeing a one-eyed person with the eye patch off.

However, poor fashion choices or not, that’s not what makes up the meat of this story. What gives this story enough merit to tell is what this young woman was doing as I walked by her on my way into the store.

She was in mid puff on a cigarette and it didn’t look like her first time.

Now, I’m not the type of person to stick my nose in where it doesn’t belong (at least not publicly) but I felt compelled to say something to her. At this point a certain question begs to be asked.

What did I say and how did she take it?

Truth is, I didn’t say anything.

Why?

I don’t know, but it probably has as much to do with not being openly confrontational and not wanting to get told off by a young woman who has probably already heard it more than she can stand. Does that mean that I empathized with her? Not in a million years. I could sit here and say that I care about the baby and it health and in part I do, but my real reason for wanting to say something is much more selfish than that.

It boils down to this: I need to look out for my wallet and its contents, or lack thereof. At the risk of being extremely presumptuous, when miss single, unemployed, mother-to-be, gives birth to her spawn, it would be nice to know that I am not gonna have to foot the bill for any complications that could have been avoided simply by not smoking.

Don’t get me wrong; I am a huge supporter of personal freedoms. However, I am also a huge supporter of personal responsibility. I would have no problem with people doing what they want as long as they would be willing to release people like me from paying for their choices. An example of what I am talking about is currently a much-debated topic in my own state. There is a large statewide motorcycle group in Maine that lobbies against every helmet law referendum that comes along.

Their motto is: ‘Let Those Who Ride Decide’.

While I am not in favor of Big Brother making people wear seat belts (or helmets for that matter), I’m also not in favor of increased health insurance premiums because some ‘Easy Rider’ wannabe smashed his bug-dented melon against the asphalt and is now a vegetable. I’ve even come up with my own little motto that reflects my feelings.

They say, “Let Those Who Ride Decide.”

Well, I say, “Let Those Who Pay Say.”

If a biker would be willing to sign a waiver that stated he or she would not be covered in any way, shape, or form in the event of an unprotected head injury, then I would be willing to let them ride free with what hair they have left blowing in the wind. The same goes for the young, pregnant girl smoking, people who don’t want to wear seatbelts, and every other freedom loving person out there.

Freedom to do what you want should also mean freedom to be responsible for doing what you want.

Think of the money that could be saved if such risky people were not included with the rest of us. I actually read a news story about an old lady who burned her house down because she was smoking in between sucking on an oxygen mask.

What friggin’ doctor approves giving a smoker a tank full of oxygen?

I realize that oxygen itself won’t explode but it will saturate everything around it and support one helluva big bang. I wonder if the same doctor hands out lighters, rubber straps, and needles to the heroin addicts that come into his office. Under my plan the old lady would not have burned her house down because she’d be dead, either from smoking, or lack of oxygen, or both.

As harsh as it sounds, it’s not as bad as thinking about paying for someone else’s bad personal choices.

it's nice to know that somone has brains in this cracked up world. well done.
Now if only these things would come into action...
It's like John Lennon's 'imagine'. I suppose we can just imagine a perfect world, as the world will never be perfect.