The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Lauren L. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Research - Justice
Thomas Bentley of New Jersey is suing his former law school, St. Thomas University Law School of Miami, for having admitted him to law school (he was later one of 40 students expelled for insufficient grades). The Florida law school's attrition rate is in keeping with the national average. Presumably, Bentley initially asked the university to admit him but that didn't stop his lawyer Michael Lombardi from saying, with a straight face: "They're not supposed to accept students who don't have a reasonable prospect of completing law school."
A college student in Idaho decided to "moon" someone from his 4th story dorm room window. He lost his balance, fell out of his window, and injured himself in the fall. Now the student expects the University to take the fall; he is suing them for "not warning him of the dangers of living on the 4th floor".
A drunk driver was speeding, careened passed detour signs and crashed. He sued the engineering firm that designed the road, the contractor, four subcontractors and state highway department property which owned both sides of the road. Five years later, all of the defendants settled for $35,000. The engineering firm was swamped with over $200,000 in legal costs.
Proverbs 29:7 says, "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern." All of these cases are legitimate - according to the country's standards. But are they really okay morally? Couldn't the man who sued the law school for being admitted just never admitted to the school in the first place? What makes it alright for the drunk driver to be suing the engineering firm? Why did the student feel it necessary to take money from his school for not telling him that hanging out a four-story window could injure him seriously? If each of these people had first thought before making poor decisions, they wouldn't have had to sue in the first place. The justice system in our country is being abused all the time, more and more. It really isn't fair for specific individuals to be able to use it this way. And they wouldn't use it this way of they had a clear understanding of what justice is.
America and her judicial system are there to protect the people of our nation. When greedy individuals feel that it is okay to demand money from other individuals for petty mistakes, no is really protected. Our system, today, is abused and it needs to be set right. Criminals should be criminals and what is right should be seen as what is right. But that will only happen if we, as individuals, see our faults in situations before causing all sorts of trouble and financial costs for others. In Genesis 3:12-13, we find Eve owning up to her sin.
Genesis 3:12-13 "The man said, 'The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.' Then the LORD God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'"
We need to take responsibility for our actions, as well, and own up to our mistakes.
