Saturday, April 17, 2010

Tedium

We're still working on a solution. For now, our prisoner (for lack of a better term) Ellen, is still confined. Mind you, she's in a bedroom with an adjoining bath, so she's not exactly suffering. But we are still mulling over the options for addressing this sort of behavior. We need to develop responsible but effective deterrents and punishments, since pretty much none of us believe in the effectiveness of the old jail and prison system.

The crux of the matter is this: the majority think that a good general rule is that the punishment should fit the crime. But are we going to administer a beating to this woman who lost her temper and picked a fight? I don't see that doing much good for her. In fact, I would think that particular response would just make her more angry, more likely to fly off the handle, and thus more of a threat to others.

So we're stuck.

And we're debating. Which slows down the work around here, as people talk and discuss. Which is why we should have some sort of rules or laws or what have you set down before shit like this happens. This situation is really making the case for being proactive rather than reactive.

I am only taking a short break to write this, and then I go back out and work on the wall we're building around my block, and do my best to keep us all on task. It's sort of an exercise in futility.

You know, the one thing I thought would be different about living in a post-apocalyptic world was that people would be more focused on the really important stuff, and no one would be fooling around with unneeded rules and laws, interfering in our lives. As it turns out, people will always be people, with all the ups and downs, and someone will always have to be the bad guy and call others out. Someone has to enforce even the minimum rules we have set.

So it's me and the committee together again today, after lunch. Hopefully we can accomplish something.

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