Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Fairness Day


I was sitting on benches along the wall, as the Sequel, her sister, and her lawyer sat in the chairs in the middle of the room. I met eyes with the sister and smiled. The sister looked away quickly.

I thought that it was odd that folks I once had holiday meals with would now be “the opposing party”. From in-laws to outlaws.

“You know, it’s odd that people I once had holiday dinners with…”

My lawyer cut me off, as she did quite often.

“You’re not getting philosophical are you?”

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Court isn’t the place for being philosophical.”

I wondered if courts had no room for philosophy, and by implication no room for emotion, then was there really room for fairness or justice or honesty.

The U.S. has plenty of Christmas Christians, who pray and give and consider others on the 25th of December, while hording and hating the other 364 days of the year (Yes, there’s hate on Easter. Let Kid A swipe an Easter egg that clearly belonged to Kid B, and watch Kid B’s parents not only get upset, but begin thinking about a brand new crucifixion.)

Do courts have a Philosophy Day? Or a Fairness Week? And if so, is there any way I could have my court appearance scheduled during those holidays?

Maybe there’s a waiting list that could be provided.

I guess the perk was that this was a local appearance. I drove eight minutes downtown instead of driving the usual eight hours back and forth across state lines. I thought maybe I’d be getting good news close to home, or at least a local ass-kicking.

Hope springs eternal for those outside of family court. It takes some time for dads in family court to break the habit.

I once told my friends on Facebook that all 133 of them were the family court equivalent of Chicago Cubs fans. Loyal. Colorful. Doomed to lose every season, usually in ways both tragic and painful. Longtime Cubs fans have the mental and physical scars. Bartman’s 2004 leaning from the stands catch of an in-play ball cost the Cubs a trip to the World Series and likely cost many households broken tv sets, broken toes from kicking furniture, and damaged knuckles and plaster from punching walls.

The halls of injustice should come with padded walls, especially in the men’s room. Disenfranchised dads should have something soft to punch and beat on. Once child support and legal fees are added, re-added, and squared, medical bills for daddy’s broken hand would really be an unaffordable, and therefore irresponsible, expense.

No comments:

Post a Comment