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Politics : About that Cuban boy, Elian -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Machaon who wrote (8156)	7/6/2000 4:14:55 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

If the criminal regime, in Cuba, was holding threats over the heads of Juan's family, back in Cuba, would you feel that Juan was still able to "freely" make his own choice? You know, Robert, not all choices are easy. I recall from psychology 101 some 40 years ago about approach-approach, approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance choices. Even approach-approach choices are not necessarily easy. Lots of people prefer environments where their decisions are made for them or severely limited because in many ways that's the easier life--not as rewarding, but easier. Freedom means having choices. That even includes the choice to give up freedom, if one wants. JM was in the US with his immediate family. He could have chosen to stay. It would have been a complicated and difficult choice to make, as you say, because of the risk to his family in Cuba. They would have suffered at least the social stigma of his defection and perhaps something very much worse. Juan Miguel was probably in a good position to judge the implications of such a decision. He made his choice. We will never know why. It's his business. Lots of people chose to defect during the cold war. We will never know, either, what penalties were paid for those choices. I'm glad I never had to face such a choice. I'm about the age of Elian's grandmothers. I have had a wonderful life thus far and I hope to have a lot more of it. Even though I have never personally experienced the special love a mother has for her offspring, I can say with absolute confidence that I would be willing to accept the worst that Castro could do to me in order that my offspring could escape life in Cuba, if it's as bad as you think it is. I would not begrudge my offspring the opportunity and I'd like to think that Elian's abuelas would have made any sacrifice to protect their grandchildren, if necessary. I suspect that life in Cuba for JM is not so bad as to make it necessary to sacrifice his older relatives. But that was for Juan Miguel to judge and he did so. Karen