I wish they had gone ahead and charged them or at least got them to plead to some community service or something.

Perhaps the vandalism occurred before their arrival?

We have no evidence that they were in fact the original vandals.

Unfortunately, boys will be boys.

I'm glad that a leader in the Catholic Church has a cool head instead of all of the reactionary parishoners of the town who were ready to hang them and kick the LDS church out of town.

I think a good stint of community service is still called for. Even if they didn't do the vandalization, they still offended their church by mocking their sacred places. If it was my kid I would have already sent him to that town and told him to make it right.

This whole double-standard with "other" kids and my "own" kids... that's very curious to me.

I hold my kids to a higher standard than other kids. True they are adults but they went onto another church's property so the best spin I can put on this is that they were tresspassing. I try to look at how I would feel if it was catholic priests doing this sort of thing on the grounds of the temple. I know I would be pretty upset even if no vandalism occurred. It's not like this was some punk kids from the neighborhood, these were missionaries.

I realize they are adults and I could not force my adult child to go make this right with those people but you had better believe I would apply as much pressure as I could to do so.  There is the legal thing to do and the right thing to do.  The right thing would be to right the wrong regardless of whether there is a legal consequence or not.

-- Edited by Duke of Mirth at 13:06, 2008-03-26

Cocobeem wrote:

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beef- I just meant the comments to the effect, "If this were YOUR kid, you'd be thinking/talking TOTALLY differently." Why? I guess I just don't get that. Like you're holding your kids to a lesser standard, let's be easier on them... because... they possess your precious DNA or something?

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I'm not sure if that's what people mean when they say that.  I think it means that it gives you a different perspective.  It's easy to make comments and think you know what you would do, but to put it closer to home may make you think differently.  Like when people say that parents shouldn't allow kids to scream while in the store.  Puts a different spin on it when it's your kid screaming.

So was I. And I think screaming in a store is a long way from what those missionaries did, even sans vandalism.

I grew up on a farm and if you broke the rules you paid a severe price. I remember once in highschool some guys broke some equipment in the photo department. I wasn't the one that did it but because we were all in the area together the school said we should all pay. Mom and dad basically said I had to handle it. Went and saw the vice principle and laid the entire story out of what happened. He didn't care and basically said unless the guys that broke it came in and accepted full responsibility that I would still have to pay my portion. I tried complaining to my parents but they basically told me that's how life is sometimes. So when I graduated I took the money I got from graduation down to the school to pay my portion of the bill. It didn't seem fair at the time but my parents never stepped in to save me. I remember losing my car privileges for the summer because I jumped off the roof into pool. There was no argument or negotiation. My friends thought it was harsh and I did at the time too but my parents were holding me to a higher standard. When my sister got the pickup stuck in the neighbors irrigated field she had to go personally apologize for it to the farmer and try and make it right. Legally she wasn't required to do anything. My parents didn't even have to force her to do it at this stage in life because she knew she lived by a higher standard and it was the right thing to do. Legally, there was no remedy but morally she had to do whatever it took to make it right with the farmer which in this case she took over a cake to him and that made him happy.

It may sound old fashioned but you don't just do something and then if there is no legal penalty decide everything is ok. You have to do the right thing not just the legal thing. Sometimes people forget that. That's where I think these missionaries need to be. They need to go back to that community and church and set things right through service. It may be old fashioned but that's how I'm raising my kids.

We do have a jail Ray, it's called the farm out in the middle of no where. We have chain gangs without the chains for bad behavior. I refer to it as "medicine for the problem".

I'm clarrifying it. If it was my child I would be harsh.

I don't know that I would agree that a double standard for other people's kids indicates hypocrisy. For instance, I don't let my son call adults by their first name, but if I see a child calling an adult by their first name, it's not my place to set a different standard for them than their parents set.