Eat the Rich

I've been having a great time blog-hopping lately, following links from some of my favorite blogs and landing in the middle of great - and very funny - writing. A lot of these bloggers write about work, which I can't do in quite the same way, as I would get dooced in a heartbeat (and, also, I don't want to violate student confidentiality - so I guess I'm bound both by fear and by ethics). I'll be adding some of these links to my sidebar, so stay tuned.

Yesterday, I spent a few hours at Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds. At first, I was really enjoying myself, laughing at the stupidity and egocentrism of the very rich. But then...something changed. Somewhere along the way, the tales of silly rich folks gave way to something darker, something so ugly, so wretched, that after I left my desk and went out into the beautiful fall sunshine, the stench of something rotting stayed with me. And I couldn't laugh anymore:

Last night Samantha came driving up to the gatehouse in her Denali, with her hysterical 9 year old daughter Hailie. The incident report says that Samantha stopped the SUV and that she and the child were arguing inside of it. Samantha dragged Hailie out of the car by her arm and brought her into the gatehouse where the confused Security Officers inquired as to the problem. Samantha informed them that her daughter had smacked her in the arm and that she was fed up with being a mother and that she "was not going to take this anymore."...the daughter was too much for her to handle and that she didnt want her anymore. Samantha then proceeded to storm out and peal away in her SUV, leaving an utterly distraught Hailie sobbing... Luckily, the female guards in the gatehouse are fierce mama bear types... Hailie explained to the officers that her mother was going crazy again and that she hadnt really smacked her, but instead tried to take a bottle of Vicodin away from her. Her mother then exploded in a fit of rage and threatened to give the child away. When Hailie had called her bluff, Samantha took her daughter and left her at the gatehouse.

The guards called Samantha on her cell phone, but she wouldnt pick up. Thinking she was playing a trick on Hailie, they drove her back home, but found the house dark, vacant and thoroughly locked up.

And there are more like these.

What's got me depressed is that people like this...I'm pretty sure they can abuse their children by not loving them, by not spending time with them, by being so self-involved (obviously, the woman above has a drug problem, but you know what I mean) that the kids have nowhere to turn. It reminds me of The Nanny Diaries, which, writing aside, introduced me to people like this to whom their children were status symbols and accessories.

I'm pretty sure that people like this can do these things to their children and get away with it.