Should the viral mother Endangering her Son’s Life be Forgiven and Forgotten?
This week, a certain mother took over social media by storm and it was not for a good reason. A shocking video was posted of a mother forcing her son to jump from a window on the third floor to a nearby balcony. Apparently, the boy forgot the house keys and the family got locked outside, the parent thought it was only appropriate that the child held on to a nearby balcony rail and should jump in the flat to open the door from the inside.
The backlash was intense and the viral video ended with Dr. Azza Al-Ashmawi, Secretary-General of The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, deeming the mother unfit and demanding her arrest. Every social media user seemed on board with the decision, until the family appeared in a video interview for AlAkhbar Gate.
The father spoke publicly for the first time about the incident, claiming that the mother was helpless as they live in a rural area with no services or help at that time of the day. In addition to clarifying that he had just undergone surgery and the mother is the sole provider of the family. Many people have showed empathy towards the family and people now are pleading social media users to take it easy on her, for the sake of her kids.
The public prosecutor’s office decided to release the mother after she wrote a pledge vowing to never endanger her kids’ lives again. While we understand the lack of child support will ruin her four children’s lives, but the argument stands as won’t the lack of sympathy, empathy, education, and reasonable problem-solving do the same?
Should the mother be forgiven and forgotten, pay some kind of penalty, or be forced to attend parenting classes and educate her instead? This issue stands as a key discussion as what is limit of what is acceptable in the legal system. This is a slap in the face for every negligent mother who thinks she can get away with it behind closed doors.
Lastly the question lies, what kind of message are we sending by showing sympathy on social media?
