Dumb Rewards

Sorry I haven't posted over the last few days, wonderful weather that I didn't want to miss out on.  I'm not waiting on this one that I just saw on the news.  This is something that is going to set a precedent with people doing stupid things to get rewarded for it!



There has apparently been a tremendous amount of rain in Florida causing streams and old canals to be very high.  A teen got confused while driving and accidentally turned into one of these canals rather than a parking lot.  Not sure how you can get that confused but without being there I can't say since it could have been raining enough to make seeing difficult.  At any rate, both the teen and his girlfriend were able to get out of the car before it went under.  The teen then jumped in the canal to retrieve an antique given by his grandmother.


My first issue with this is that this teen put his life, and those of potential rescue workers, at serious risk.  As I said the streams and canals in Florida, where this occurred, are swollen.  There is no antique worth putting your life at risk!  Is this kind of thing talked about in Driver's Education classes?  Beyond just putting his own life at risk, why would he put the lives of others at risk if something went wrong in his attempt to save the antique?  And above and beyond the high water and increased current, he is in Florida!  There are alligators all over, what if one decided he was lunch (or dinner)?  Just a stupid act.


My other issue is the local (to the teen) car dealer.  He rewarded the teen's actions by giving him a car!  That's just a brilliant idea, reward someone for risking their life.  No others will do something stupid like that in hopes of getting the same kind of reward, never happen (note the sarcasm)!  I'm sure we will see it happen in the next few months.  Rewarding people for stupid acts only suggests to others that if they do stupid things they will get rewarded.


I don't have any doubt as to why rescue workers make so much money.  They have to save people who are doing stupid things for stupid reasons or just for attention.