Losing Recess

“Until whoever wrote on the supply cabinet comes forward, the entire class will be staying in from recess!”

Remember how unfair that felt! Remember how angry you were when you had to pay the price for someone else’s misdeeds! Of course, most (or all) of the class knew who had done the deed (it was Veronica, it was always Veronica), but they wouldn’t tell on someone. So you stayed in and sulked until Susan’s mother called the next day and got everyone, including Veronica, out of jail. That also felt unfair. Veronica should pay for her crimes and you shouldn’t.

You struggled to pay for college. You worked a job in addition to the work-study and it took you ages to pay off your debt. With bitterness, you remember Sandy, who was dropped off in a Lexus, was getting more aid than you! Sandy had all the trappings of a rich kid: fancy cars, clothes, vacations, and toys. If Sandy had all that, why the full ride?

People game the system. People pay for others’ crimes. It is wrong, but it happens all the time. Why should we have to bear the burden for this kind of unfairness?

If people commit crimes, they should be punished. If people cheat, they should not succeed. If people lie or misrepresent themselves, they should have to confess and tell the truth and bear the consequences.

I wish it were that simple.

How much is it worth to catch the cheaters? Should no one get financial aid to college because some people abuse it? Should it be distributed evenly so that the very wealthy and the barely making ends meet get the same assistance? Should everyone pay the price for the misdeeds of a few people?  

Let’s put this another way:

Due to water issues, my town only permits us to water our lawns every other day. But I have a neighbor who waters every day anyway. Should watering be forbidden for everyone? Should all of our plants die because one neighbor uses too much water and has beautiful landscaping?

The answer is clearly no! Just the offender should be punished!

What about systems of social support? There are people who scam insurance, welfare, food stamps, and other programs that help those who are struggling. If one person really doesn’t want to work and is just being lazy, should the single mom working two jobs also be cut out of the program? What if it is a small percentage of those getting assistance? At what point do you take away everyone’s recess because some of the class is being naughty?

Should we create tight rules to catch the person who cuts in line, goes through the red light, or has eleven items in the “Ten or Fewer” line at the grocery store? Should we shame them? Should we eliminate the express lines and build pop-up walls at intersections?

                                           

Of course not!

So how do we deal with the cheats and freeloaders?

I am not sure. But I know this: they shouldn’t ruin it for the rest of us. They shouldn’t make all of us stay in from recess nor should we eliminate systems that help struggling people in our community because a few people behave badly.

Although we may think we have the full picture, it is rarely true. We may think that someone is cheating or scamming the system. We must acknowledge that many times, we only have parts of their story. We might be right. We might be wrong.

I would love to live in a world where lightning strikes down every wrongdoer automatically. If you are using a phone while driving, POOF, you are suddenly sitting on the side of the road and your car is gone. If you steal, POOF, you are suddenly transported to jail! If you lie, POOF, the truth is automatically revealed and you are punished.

It doesn’t work that way. Here and now there is just us to make justice, and human justice is as fallible and uneven as the human beings dispensing it.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t make the attempt. It certainly doesn’t mean that we let the bad eggs spoil it for everyone. We may have the impulse to say that, if one or some of us can’t treat things well, then none of us should get them. We know that is wrong and unfair.

Must we let the cheaters slide? Sometimes. Can we create systems that catch the cheaters? Sometimes. Should we create systems that sacrifice doing good things because some people cheat?

I don’t know if this makes me a liberal or a conservative. I know that the argument against many forms of social support is that they are either distributed poorly or that people take advantage of them. That doesn’t mean that a majority of the class isn’t doing the right thing and should be held in for recess!  

Here is the trade-off: Is it worth it to suffer some wrong doers to help more good folks? Is that the price we must pay? It may bug us to know that there are kids on the playfield who don’t belong there, but it is more wrong to keep the whole class inside.