[1025] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Money makes it all better, and it's not our fault
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kelly Zimmerman)
Thu Jan 31 20:18:22 2002
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20020131195153.0225b460@hesiod>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 20:13:40 -0500
From: Kelly Zimmerman <knz@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <a05101401b87f6d0797c0@[192.168.0.2]>
A. I can't help but wonder how receiving money from MIT will make it all
better with the parents. I really don't understand this mentality of
monetary compensation for the life of a loved one. How could someone drive
a car bought because of their son's death? Or how can they live in a larger
house bought with the money that they got because of their daughter's
suicide? If they really believe that MIT wronged them and their daughter, I
believe the biggest statement the Shins could do is make sure that mental
health care is improved. If suing is the way they do it, fine, but unless
that money's going to a foundation dedicated to improving people's mental
well-being, I can't help but look at this whole business cynically.
Does anyone know if they are in fact going to do something with the money,
before I start saying things I really shouldn't?
B. Who's to say it wasn't the parents that pushed her a little too much? In
fact, when I first read about this in some non-Globe source, I got that
very impression-- her parents pushed her. Too much. If that's the case,
maybe telling her parents would have ended with the same effect? Maybe
that's why she didn't want her parents to know? Also, did the Shins raise
their daughter in a way that led to a stable mental state? Shins: 18 years,
MIT: 1 year. Statistically speaking, what are the odds that whatever led
Elizabeth to act in the way she did stemmed from being at MIT?
C. One minute they're telling us that we're adults, the next that we're
kids. We're allowed to withhold our grades from our parents, even if
they're the ones paying our tuition, yet now the medical center's expected
to report the inner workings of our minds to them??
D. I wonder how many people would not go to talk with someone if they knew
that it would be reported to their parents. They used to do that to kids in
jr. high and high school-- as soon as they'd talk with someone, their
parents would be called. Pretty soon, kids stopped going to the counselors,
and they wondered why. If people stop going to the med center when they
should be going, isn't that worse? Especially since we don't even know that
the parents will make it all better anyhow.
I'm not trying to be mean to her parents, I'm sorry this happened to her
and them, but like I said in the beginning of this e-mail, with the suing
and all, I can't help but look at this whole business somewhat cynically.
--Kelly ;)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation on the use of the mailing lists mit-talk, all-talk,
mit-news, housing-talk, and the mit-talk Zephyr class is available at:
http://web.mit.edu/institvte/talk/
