Social Responsibility: Buy the Damn Condoms!

I was watching an episode of "What Would You Do" on ABC this past Friday evening and one of the scenarios caught my eye.

In it, they had teenagers walk up to people in a drug store to see if they would buy condoms for a teenaged boy who's mother's friend was at the pharmacy counter or Plan B for a girl who was in the same situation.

It seems that people would buy Plan B for the girl but wouldn't get condoms for the boy. You want to know what my stance is? What would I do in that situation? I'll tell you.

I would get you those things in a second. Here's why.

Social responsibility! Yes, social responsibility. For all you holier than thou religious types & those who say "I want my children to come to ME when they want to have sex," consider this.

My sister & I grew up in a household where premarital sex was not just discouraged but downright frowned upon. My mother had this old doll that belonged to my grandmother & said that it would be given to the first one of us who had a child. However, she said it would not count if the child was born out of wedlock.

Now, in an atmosphere like that how comfortable would you be coming to your parents on matters of sex? Remember my father was far too busy with his own alcohol addiction to be much of a parent to us at the time.

When my sister got pregnant at 20 (unmarried but engaged to her first husband), my mother was the last person she told about it. She was terrified of our mother's reaction; hell, the way she went on about children out of wedlock, you'd figure she'd disown you if you did that as her kid, right?

I actually was the last person to know since my mother told me one evening while my then boyfriend (the one who was 14 years older than me) & I were out eating dinner. She asked me why my sister didn't tell her sooner & why she'd been the last to know.

I said #1) I was the last to know since she was the one telling me this & #2) she wasn't exactly the most supportive parent on this kind of thing considering the doll & everything.

So, moralists how do you know that the kid asking you these questions doesn't come from a similar household? How do you know if their parents are rational, sane human beings who wouldn't just toss the kid out in the street, beat him/her up or completely disown the child? You don't!! Some would & some have. Look at how parents treat their kids who come out as gay! I'm sure some of those people could tell stories that would piss you off or prove you're an inhuman piece of garbage.

Unless you've become a psychic and can magically determine all these things about people just by looking at them, you don't know shit. Because you don't know shit about anyone's upbringing or their parents, who are you to play God?

Furthermore, you have a social responsibility to us taxpayers to prevent more unwanted pregnancies, dumpster babies and more unwanted kids who are going to need a ton of therapy, all financed on OUR dime. Even the staunchest pro-lifer has to agree that unwanted pregnancies should be prevented at all costs or the person should be shot since (s)he isn't using his/her brain. If you don't prevent them, then you're helping contribute to more abortions.

Teen sex is the same as abortions: you're never going to completely eliminate it & if someone wants to do it badly enough, they will do it. I'd rather just make sure some teen is encouraged to be responsible and not go have unprotected sex, leading to diseases, pregnancy and who knows what else.

I think there was more sympathy for the Plan B situation because maybe women wondered if this girl could have been raped. Another thing you can't predict & you have no right to judge on: how do you know the person seeking it wasn't the victim of a rape? Do you honestly think a rape victim is going to tell that fact to a total stranger? If you do, you have obviously never been raped. I personally have not but was once in an attempted rape situation that I did manage to get out of. I also have some sense of empathy since I know people who have lived their fair share of bad experiences.

Oh, and newsflash: condoms should NOT be locked behind a pharmacy counter or stored there in a store. They are NOT restricted by age nor a prescription product. Making access impossible at any time of day will not stop sex & it just says to me as a consumer that you do not support safe sex. For those giving disapproving looks to those buying condoms, a question: how many diseases have you spread around to others? I'm sure you caused one of those HIV epidemics with that attitude.

Finally, don't take your lack of a sex life or ability to find anyone to fuck you out on young people (or me, for that matter). If you do this, shame on you! It's time you got laid so perhaps that stick would fall out from your ass. God didn't put you on this Earth to be a patronizing, whiny asshole who pisses everybody off.

This is also where you can tell some people have become stuffy, boring adults whose sense of fun and youthful exuberance has withered and died some horrible death. I vow never to become one of those people. If I do, family & friends have been instructed to shoot me, commit me, do whatever it takes to get me to snap out of it.

See What I Mean By Entitlement?

I saw this Craig's List ad yesterday & have to share it:

trademark advice (Greenwich Village)
Date: 2011-02-15, 5:11PM EST
Reply to: gigs-8bfbj-2216427887@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

I am starting a museum and need some trademark advice. if someone donate some help that would rock

thanks

* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
* Compensation: no pay

PostingID: 2216427887

You know I had to respond, right? Here's what I wrote:

This sounds an awful lot like an attempt to get free legal services. Guess what??? Lawyers cost MONEY & with good reason. Do YOU have to maintain licensing standards & pay dues to keep doing YOUR job?

If you want a freebie, I suggest looking this stuff up yourself or asking a friend instead of expecting random lawyers who see these ads to give a damn about you or your attempt to create a museum. We attorneys have our own problems & the last thing we care about is satisfying some lazy jerk with an entitlement complex.

If YOU wouldn't want to work for free, then don't ask others to do so.

That last sentence is a true life lesson: if you personally wouldn't do something for free, then don't ask someone else to give you a freebie. Especially a total stranger.

There are reasons why they don't have legal aid organizations for free legal advice in certain areas. Generally, lawyers aren't the most altruistic people. I include myself in that as well. We feel, for instance, that if you have enough money to have an estate then you have enough money to pay a lawyer to do a proper will & set up trust instruments.

Guess what? You do NOT need a free will if you have an estate that won't be swallowed up by debt when you die.

If I like you, I'll do a lot for you. But if I don't know you, I have no motivation to give you a freebie. Why don't I just demand YOU for one? I'd really like free computer help, an actor to work for free as my servant/admirer/significant other/security guard, etc. I'm sure I could offend you by asking for freebies & you didn't even have to maintain state licensing, incur six figure loan debt or abide by ethical rules to start & continue working in your trade.

Oh, and apparently many of the morons who post insulting ads on Craig's List delete their ads before I can give them the old tongue lashing or find my response absolutely hilarious. Someone needs to get some legal counsel badly with some of the ads I've seen or maybe some of these people realized "Hey, we can't get a college student to intern for us 40 hours a week!" I literally saw an ad for that today, no joke.

Attention unemployed lawyers: if you live in NYC, LA or someplace that has jobs in this section, go to the Craig's List creative/talent gigs sections as well as anything related to the entertainment industry. Once you see ads that show evidence of labor law violations (such as asking for photographs as a pre-condition to interviewing or having interns do things that are benefiting the business & not offering reimbursement for travel costs, using their own laptop, etc.), point it out to these folks & then mention you're a lawyer. You've just pointed out a serious problem they've got & how your services can remedy that.

If they are not grasping a clue (no one with any kind of in-house lawyer would ever post some of the ads I've seen in these sections), point out that they will eventually crash & burn with the obvious lack of legal counsel + the fact that any decent attorney costs a LOT of money.

You've got to be smart & think outside the box if you want to get anywhere in the legal field, or life for that matter. This is called "making your own future while having a little fun & performing a public service." Pointing out idiocy is an obligation we all have & I take that duty seriously as a professional attorney + all around loudmouth. Plus, if you can then why not?

Here's another instance of idiocy.

Personally, I side with this teacher. Since when did teaching become working for the CIA? She didn't name names or call out individual lazy students. And guess what? This woman works with high school students, so likely she knows what she's talking about.

My sister told me of one incident that happened at my nephew's school that she felt the teacher had no business having to apologize for. She even told the teacher as much & I was proud of her for not being another stereotypical self-indulgent, lazy, whiny parent who blames everyone but themselves for little Johnny's violent behavior or little Julie's materialism & whorish clothing.

The pathetic behavior of many breeders is a big reason I'm not the least bit motivated to have children. Good parents seem too few and far between but I'm happy to know quite a few who don't blame the media & teachers for everything wrong with their children. They know about something called PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY.

My husband could also tell you about some teenagers who are lazy & unmotivated. He tries to instill some common sense & not be a total jerk to them. He's managed to find some who give me hope for the future of this country.

If you ask me, teachers should be blogging about their experiences & could end up improving the education system where big money interests, school boards & people who've never spent time in a classroom have failed miserably. The 1st Amendment ramifications are also huge here since that will affect how future teachers get to do things. Me personally, if you wanted to further discourage me from being a teacher, stifling my 1st Amendment right to vent is certainly a way to do it. Bravo to this woman for speaking her mind & piss off clueless school district most likely staffed by overpaid administrators who continue to make the work of teachers even harder than it is already.

My Teen Years are Today's Norm?????

I read this story on MSN today.

To establish some background on why I'd have an opinion on this, I got a driver's license at 20. This was after failing the road test twice at 16, being told I'd have to get glasses for driving b/c of my cruddy vision (damn genetics) & the rise of graduated licensing laws in NC.

When I turned 17, I was required to get a Level 1 graduated license (w/more restrictions than I had on the Learner's Permit I had at 15). Under the law, they'd have to give me a regular license when I turned 18. Everyone I knew, including my LITTLE sister, got a driver's license before this law change.

After all this indignity, I decided that since I was going to college in Atlanta, I wouldn't need a driver's license & could just use public transit.

I'm not a fan of the DMV today but I wanted the one closest to my house to be blown up, I hated it that much. Oh, I should also mention that the first time I took the road test at that DMV I was driving a car I had driven all of once & the instructor told me to clean the windshield. I also wasn't told I'd be required to back up in a straight line so this was just another curve ball thrown at me.

Needless to say, my experience with driving was not fun. My sister got a brand new car (our parents paid) & had to drive me around when I was a senior. Know how humiliating that is, especially when you're supposed to be the more mature, intelligent kid? Granted, she got into a few accidents but it was irritating for me to be in after school activities & have to wait around 2 hours for my mom to get off work so I'd have a ride home b/c most people didn't care if or how I got home. My school was over 2 miles from home in an area without sidewalks + my mom would not let us walk that by ourselves. Taking the bus to go to AP classes off campus was also a pain in the butt since I had to wait around at least an hour before my first class started & had to return to sit around at school until 2:20 when I returned on that bus, despite my class ending at 1:50.

In college, I made my own choice to get a license but I did it after getting my own car & getting sick of taking wheeled suitcases to go to the grocery store + walking to the bank to deposit my work study paycheck. Things were fine after that.

So I have to wonder WHY, in God's name would some teenager not living in NYC or someplace with great public transit NOT want to get a license? The "too busy" excuse is weak since I knew people who were in AP classes, extracurriculars, held part-time jobs & "prepared for college" who STILL had licenses (and many times, cars).

Maybe cost would be a factor but it's never been cheap. I never even got to go on dates w/my high school boyfriend since neither of us drove & parents driving you on a date is intrusive. His parents driving us to the prom SUCKED, especially b/c we didn't get to stay out all night.

Do these people have stay at home parents??? My parents worked until late so my being in any after school activity was a pain unless a bus could get me home or I got a ride--that almost never happened. My mom was also alone later on in my high school years so I was stuck.

Do these parents just take their kids ANYWHERE?? Mine wouldn't have done that. There were limits & punishment in my home.

To put some perspective here, I'm not some old fart. I graduated high school in 1999 so there was some Internet & such at the time, though not at the levels you see today. If anything, social networking would have inspired me to get a car quicker so I could see friends living outside my hometown.

So any insights on this? I'm really stumped unless some college kids haven't had to get their own groceries yet or had the transit system shut down or close routes on them.