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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (71760)	1/9/2000 11:02:00 PM
From: Grainne	Respond to of 108807

<<My impression is they should give the child back to his Father. But I really don't think I know enough about the issue.>> Well, the reason I asked is because you seemed possibly to be equating emotion with patriotism in a way. I am relieved that we agree on something. I think they should give the child back to his father as well, but the most fervid part of the Cuban American community in Florida is trying to evoke an emotional reaction, and I don't think that is very logical. They are trying to argue that just living in this country is so great that it overwhelms the benefits of a child living with a natural parent. If you listen to them, they are saying that all Cuban children are neglected and abused simply because they live in Cuba. From what the INS said in their statement, the boy's father has proven through documents, family photographs, etc. that he had an ongoing relationship with his child. He is fairly comfortable and secure by Cuban standards, has a new wife and a baby, and loves his child and wants him back. There are absolutely no allegations of abuse or neglect. The boy's mother did not ask his permission to take Elian out of the country. She risked his safety, and he ended up watching her die and spending two days at sea floating in an inner tube, which must have been a horrendous experience. So it seems to me that the interests of the child are in being with a loving parent in a stable family situation. The Republican senators, etc. who are pandering to the Cuban American community are really offensive, in my opinion. For a "family values" party, they are certainly going in an opposite direction in this case. Isn't it the essence of family values that, barring serious problems, children should live with a parent who wants them and can care for them? There seems to be no sense even of what trauma it would cause the child to have to testify before a Senate panel, no realization that six-year-olds are easily manipulated and are not developmentally able to make reasoned good decisions about their future, etc. That little boy has been bribed with toys, visits to one theme park after another, and now a puppy. His life has been made a public spectacle to further the agenda of the American Cuban activists in Florida. I find the whole thing pretty disgusting. And even though I have lots of problems with the Clinton administration, I also think it is a cheap shot for the Republicans to have politicized this, and accuse the administration of pandering to Castro, when they simply tried to make a good and reasonable decision based on the boy's best interests and welfare.