Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Responsibility

If I installed a doggy door large enough for a big dog to come and go, I should be aware that a small child could easily use the same door. A couple is suing the manufacturer of such a door that allowed their child to leave the house and drown in the swimming pool. My heart aches for them but my head wonders where theirs was. If more people would take responsibility for their own lives and decisions, we would all be better off. I pray the court will point out that the couple should have used their heads and taken precautions with the doggy door just as they did with everything else in the house and absolve the manufacturer.

Does a warning need to accompany everything we buy? If so, perhaps it should say:
Warning: The use of this product requires human intelligence. Serious injury or death may result from lack of forethought or use by non-humans.

2 comments:

Kirkepiscatoid said...

This is where our lawsuit-happy culture makes me crazy. There is this notion that everyone is supposed to protect us from tragic accidents or our own lack of common sense.

The fact is that children can get away from even the best parent in a flash. The fact is that small children can go through a large doggy door, and if I were a toddler, and I saw our dog going through the door, I would try it, too!

Like you, my heart goes out tremendously for these parents, but it's just not the dog door manufacturer's fault any more than it's the swimming pool manufacturer's part. Sometimes I think people decide a lot of money will assuage their guilty feelings.

PseudoPiskie said...

Money, money, money. Lawyers use the prospect to lure people who think they have been wronged. Little do those folks know that the lawyer will get the bulk of whatever might be extracted and they will end up paying more the next time they want to buy something thanks to their own and others' lawsuits.