Precious Little Life

A heart wrenching story out of Calgary deals with the neglect of a two year old so extreme it left the child brain dead, and an Alberta judge ruling that the child should be taken off of life support.

It seems the legal wrangling has gotten more press than the unfortunate abuse of a child.

As a father, my soul weeps when I hear of children, particularly of babies and toddlers being abused and neglected.

The Phoenix Sinclair inquiry, which is on hiatus because of legal doings reverberates with me much like this recent incident of child abuse and neglect, and all I can think about is why would you treat your child like that?

After my first child was born, I remember seeing a poster in the hall of the hospital that read "I cry for lot's of reasons, but never to make you angry".

Every parent has their patience tested, and depending on the child, who knows how frequently you have to put your hands in your pockets and count to ten.

Clearly the parents in the cases of abuse that I have mentioned have more than just patience issues.

Family background, poverty, racism, addiction, and the abusers having been abused are probably common themes to these sad stories.

The state has no right to come into your home and take your child away until their is a problem.

With that in mind, let's tackle the themes I've mentioned for they are the harbinger of the tragic stories of child neglect and abuse.

Don't want to pay for your gas?

We are addicted to oil.

It dictates so much of our way of life that even I am oblivious 90% of the time to it.

Every now and again though, the oblivious veil lifts and the stark truth about oil surfaces.

Usually it's an oil spill, but this time it's a gas station attendant being hit and dragged by the driver of an SUV who didn't want to pay for a $112 worth of gas.

Incidents of people taking off instead of paying for gas rise in correlation with an increase in the price of gas, which is not surprising.

What is surprising in a recent tragic story coming out of Ontario, is that the management at this particular Shell station holds employees responsible for customers who do not pay for their gas.

I would like to know what measures management has in place to offset such incidents from occurring?

Oh, you don't have such measures in place.

If someone comes in to rob the gas station at gun point, I'm sure employees are told not to try and be Steven Segal, and Kung Fu the robber.

You give the robber the cash and then call the police.

So why should a gas station attendant, who is often being paid minimum wage, risk their life if someone is determined to drive away without paying for gas, which is robbery and the vehicle a potential weapon much like a gun?

Something is wrong if an employer puts their product and/or service before the safety of employees.

I think the federal government needs to step in and pass legislation making pay before you pump mandatory.

Don't worry, the oil industry can afford it, and we are not about to give up our vehicles.

Over one year has passed ...

It has been nearly one and a half years since I finished my last, and I do mean last run in post secondary education and I still have yet to achieve any gainful employment from it.

The closest I came was a little volunteer work which has now come to an end, and even that was difficult to come by.

I realize that there are easily two hundred some odd people applying for the few table scraps of entry level positions that I have applied for.

As the market gets ever so saturated, one has to wonder what the future will hold for university and college graduates.

I can respect some people lauding certain degrees and diplomas for their financial worth, because what's the point of investing time and money if there is no return on your education investment?

Some occupations might be deemed recession proof like certain careers in medicine because people are always being born, getting sick, and getting old.

Right now there is a huge demand for tech graduates in the lucrative app development scene.

So much so that I regret my previous choice of post secondary education.

Should our choices be restricted to what is in demand career wise?

When I was in high school everyone was crazy for accounting, but I was not strong in math and did not desire accounting as a career.

Should there be a guarantee before even starting a college or university that you will get employment within a year after graduating?

I don't think you could realistically police and make such promises, but I will be sure and tell my children to do some research into whatever they want to study beyond high school in the future.