2003-11-17 - 4:48 p.m.

Didn't really have much to say today, but a friend of mine's child was busted for possession at school last week. Said offspring was holding it for a friend of his that didn't want to get in trouble when his mother saw him with weed. Even though he wasn't going to do anything with the weed, he is now going to go to a special school called "The Rock" for 45 days.

That doesn't sound too good.

I'm worried about the boy, because I think about all the sweet, gentle souls I knew in high school and since who were seen as criminals by their parents or teachers or authorities just because they smoked, or acted like they did, or hung out with people who did. I'm worried that this boy will be beaten up by other boys or humiliated by the drill sergeants running the place. From everything I've heard, he's been an angel up until this act of rebellion, which wasn't even an act of rebellion he intended to go through with. Who knows what he'll become when he's subjected to that treatment.

When something is a crime, those who commit the act in question are criminals. As such, they are equated, on some level, with murderers, thieves, rapists, and other violent or truly malicious criminals. As a result, people without any wickedness in their body can become criminals, because of exposure to the seedier side of things. It's certinaly true for homosexuals, many of whom saw themselves as criminals because they were called criminals, and who then turned to crime because there was nowhere else to go.

I'm being dramatic; the boy will survive, and moreover he'll be okay, But now his mother is worried, because he's going to punished and humiliated for a single mistake, all in the name of the law.

I think it's legitimate that certain substances be controlled, such as heroin and guns. However, I believe far more in the punishment fitting the crime, and as Ani DiFranco has pointed out, we lock our sons and daughters in cages and then send more of them to die in a war.

Say a little prayer for the boy today.

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