Some people really need a license...

Remember the blog project I did last year with three other women? Well, Froggie decided to resurrect it with me and we each got to invite another friend to join us. She invited a mutual friend (someone I met through her) and I invited a friend whose blog I really enjoy reading. So now it's Froggie, Mom of Many, Moma Rock and Merrylandgirl. Hope you enjoy the topics that we'll be exploring!

This week, Froggie picked the topic: If you could rid the world of something, what would it be?

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:

Froggie
Mom of Many
Moma Rock

When I was in college, I read "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer. At the time, I was nowhere even close to being a mother, but it burned me up inside. I was furious at the mother for treating her son that way. If I were to read it now (which I couldn't even bring myself to do, even out of morbid curiosity), I would be tempted to go to their house and find some way to torture the mother for what she did to her son. In more recent years, I came across a site called badbreeders.net. It's a listing of articles pertaining to extreme child abuse cases. And even more recently, I've been hearing about the Casey Anthony case and how she should have been found guilty of murdering her daughter but wasn't convicted of that crime.

If you don't know what I'm getting at by now, it's that I want to rid the world of people who abuse and/or kill children. I'm not just speaking as a mom but also as a rational and compassionate human being. Along those lines, I'd also like to rid the world of people who commit domestic violence toward their spouses and people who abuse and/or kill animals for the sheer cruelty of it. (I'm not getting into the ethics of meat eating, but since I keep Kosher, I know that at least the meat I consume is where the animal is being killed in a humane way...gotta love the irony there.)

This brings me to the topic of licenses. People need a license to operate a vehicle and sometimes other heavy machinery. People also need a license to get married. With such licenses come great responsibility. (Spider-Man would be proud.) Unfortunately, people don't always take such care with the license they are given. People text and/or drink and drive. People drive like maniacs and have major road rage, purposely running down someone in their path. I liken this to people who receive a marriage license but use it to put their spouse through all sorts of hell. Whenever I'm in the bathroom at work or around my community, I always see signs for JCADA: Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse. They point out that men are not immune to being abused either (case in point, the story about the woman mutilating her husband's genetalia recently). It always saddens me to see the looks of hopelessness on the abuse victims faces (even though they may just be models posing for an ad for all I know). It irks me that someone could just knowingly hurt another person. I recently read about men who force their wives to get pregnant to take control of their lives. Some will even impregnate their wives and then force them to get an abortion and then repeat the cycle all over again. Sickening! The license that one gets in order to get married is basically something you fill out in a clerk's office and then file in order to be legally married. Anyone could do this really. It doesn't involve a "road test" either. I think there should be a psychological test or an evaluation from a psychologist in order to get married. I would have willingly undergone such a test if it meant that domestic abusers would be stopped before they could go on to terrorize, victimize, hurt (physically, emotionally, or sexually) or possibly kill their spouses.

Before I get back to the original topic, I also want to bring up animal abuse again. I see ads for the ASPCA (either that or the Humane Society) talking about how people abuse their pets. I can't even watch those ads because they are so sad. I remember how we got some of our dogs...their previous owners were abusive to them. I don't remember all the details with our first dog, but I believe she was neglected and ended up in the middle of the road. My late paternal grandfather saved her and gave her to my parents. There was a whole court battle for custody of the dog from the original owners, but they gave up after a little while. The beagle I got when I was 12 was found by his neighbor because his owner had left him outside for long periods of time in the heat without any water. Years later, my (now) husband alerted me to a story about someone barbecuing a kitten. I was so upset over that imagery for days! I hear of other horrible animal cruelty stories from time to time and it just leads me to hate each person who has ever harmed an animal just for the fun of it. I don't even want to get into the piercing story I heard recently. I think people should have a license to adopt pets, even if they pick up a stray from the street. People wanting a pet should also undergo psychological testing in order to qualify for such a license.

Back to where I started from....child abuse! People who want to be parents should undergo a series of psychological tests and go through a bunch of hoops in order to be allowed to so much as conceive. If they did not have a license, they would have to forfeit the rights of parenting to someone more qualified and deserving. Again, I would have gladly been subjected to these tests if it meant that even one child would be saved from a life of torture or possibly even be saved from being murdered because everyone had to undergo such tests in order to receive a parenting license. It disgusts me that some people are able to conceive and give birth to a healthy child, but then throw that child against a wall or shake them when they're an infant. It's absolutely horrendous and it makes me furious beyond belief! And don't even get me started about sexual abuse of children. So unbelievably disgusting!!! I hear of people all the time who are unable to conceive and would provide a loving home for a child, while instead some other poor child is born to someone who sees nothing wrong with stubbing out cigarettes on their skin or giving them tattoos...or worse.

If we were able to rid the world of anyone who had a child without a license and then gave the child to deserving parents who couldn't have children of their own, this world would be a much better place. Toss out the people who wed without such licenses and went on to abuse their spouse, while other nice guys and girls (who aren't having much luck in the dating pool because they're just too nice) are waiting with open arms to treat the abuse victim like gold. And then add to the pile the pet owners who don't have this license and make their dogs live in cages all day long with no food or water while other people would gladly take those same dogs on walks and give them a nice steak bone as an extra special treat. (I'm not saying that being able to conceive or having luck in the dating pool is the same as adopting a pet, but I also would rather see animal adoption facilities only let licensed people adopt pets in my ideal world.) Everyone (including animals) should have the right to live in a world where their health, dignity, safety and overall happiness are not compromised. Therefore, I would love to rid the world of abusive people, one disgusting scumbag at a time! And a license system would be a good way to start this riddance process once and for all!