The answer= ????
Hhhhhhmmmmm...
Personally, I have always struggled with this question. It is one topic that I don't have a concrete, opinionated answer to. For example, I don't think that if a parent were to murder someone, that the victims family has the right to kill the murderers child in response. I do, however, think that the murderer's child will have to take some responsibility for their parents action--or clean up the mess left over. The kid sort of has a duty to try and fix things to the best of his or her ability. Do I think this is exactly fair? Definitely not, but part of who we are is our parents. We are our parents' heirs--be that for money, traits, attitude, home, or responsibility. We have a duty to take the baggage that comes with being our parent's child.
I hate to connect this back to Malcom X, but I just can't resist. This issue can also be looked at on a broader scale. Malcom X originally hated the white race because of the actions he had seen demonstrated through history done to the African Americans, by the white race. Generations later, he blamed the enslavement, beating, and raping of the slaves by the white plantation owners, on each individual white person he met. Is this right? Well...he has a point. He has a reason to be angry. He has the right to be angry. Should he "punish" the white descendent for the sins of their forefathers by not accepting them, in the same way they won't accept him? Not necessarily...I guess I am just saying that I don't really have a solid opinion. I just feel that the child does not deserve equal punishment as their parents deserve, but that they do inherit some responsibility and should therefore do their best to try and repay the person who is seeking revenge. Yeah...and revenge is never the answer. Ever.
And now for a random picture. I was going to put something that relates, but this just amuses me way too much...(I've been taped to a wall before, its a lot of fun...try it sometime)
3 comments:
I share your opinion about feeling conflicted on this subject. But, I feel myself leaning towards the "No" - that children are not responsible for their parents mistakes. Especially if the child was born after the parents did something wrong, like in Malcolm's case. I see your point about family responsibility, but don't really think that anyone else is responsible for a person's actions, only themselves.
Anyway...great points!
OMG. NICE PIC.
okay, anyway...it sure does sound like you are conflicted. However, I agree with Allison; what if the parents did not raise the children!? The children would not have been "infected" [shall we say] by the parents bad morals! There would be no use in punishing the child because the child would have nothing at all to do with the bad deed! This is like the whole debate with the new generation of young people in Germany and how they might be educated by anti-semitic grandparents...but what if they were separated from their grandparents?!
well, nice blog, again, and nice pic!
That's a very interesting view to take, and I think it's a pretty touchy topic. I don't really have a specific opinion, either. On the one hand, I think that we're each individuals and all that jazz and that we shouldn't have to inherit the results of other people's screw ups. On the other hand, we inherit the things they do right, including their money, their properties, etc. It'd be really much easier if our parents JUST DIDN'T SCREW UP, you know?
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