Pier Mother Not Guilty!

In the headlines this week is the story of a mother who threw her three children off of a pier in San Francisco. It is a very sad story. The tragedy of family hurting family is the single saddest fact of the human existence.

Many who know me and my generally conservative views may be surprised by this but I think that the mother, Lashaun Harris, should not be charged with murder. Let me tell you why.

I live with a schizophrenic. I know what the mood swings can be like. My wife, who is mildly schizophrenic, will occasionally go completely berserk. Afterwards, she tells how she knows what she's doing but she can't stop. On one hand, she can see rationally that what she's doing is wrong but, at the same time, another side of her just won't stop. It is like an out of body experience where the rational side of her watches the irrational side doing irrational things and she can do nothing to stop it. I will bet money that this is what happened with Lashaun Harris.

It is almost a fact of life that any person on a successful regimen of medication for psychiatric problems will try to go off of the medication. After all, they're doing great. Just ask them. Just ask the people around them. They don't need medicine, they're doing just fine! Of course they, and too often those responsible for their care, forget that they're doing just fine because of the medication. In my own experience, my wife has never gone off of her medication - not because she hasn't wanted to but because her family and friends have made it important enough to her that she stay on the medication.

Even on her medication, and it is so for anyone taking anti-psychotic drugs, she still has bad days. The bad days can be mildly difficult or they can be nightmares, both for her and for me. Thankfully, in my wife's case, she stays on her medication, as I stated before, because she does have a support mechanism of family and friends.

Lashaun Harris, on the other hand, was living in a homeless shelter (more on that later). There was no support for her. There was no one who could tell her that it was important, to her and to them, that she was ok. There are just some days that, when she is staring at her pills and debating with herself whether or not she needs them, she very desperately needs to have someone put an arm around her and tell her yes, she needs them and that they need for her to take them.

She had her kids but that's not the same. While it was important for the children's sake that Lashaun stay healthy, who was there to remind Lashaun of that fact? The children didn't understand that their mother needed support, they didn't know how to give the support, and they didn't know that their lives were in danger.

My wife knows she can't care for our grandkids for more than a few hours at a time. This is hard for her because she practically raised our oldest granddaughter for the first few years while my daughter-in-law worked. But since my wife's problems have gotten worse, she hasn't been able to care for them. It is unimaginable to my wife that she would have to care for children by herself for days, let alone a lifetime. And my wife is in much better emotional and psychological shape than most schizophrenics.

So the problem is then, what idiot left Lashaun Harris in charge of three small children? There is your murderer! Anyone who knows anything about the type of problems Lashaun has should have known she should never be responsible for children alone. Perhaps she could have taken care of her kids if she was on medication and with a strong family support system but she didn't have that.

Which is the next part of the problem. Why were Lashaun and her children living in a homeless shelter? Now that the children are dead, there are family all over the place. How can anyone let a member of their family live in a homeless shelter? Let alone with children. And even worse, psychotic and with children! All of these aunts, sisters, family, and friends should all be charged with negligent homicide just as if they had left a toaster on the side of the children's bathtub. They killed these children.

Sure, they are all talking about how they notified authorities and the authorities said nothing could be done. So reserve jail cells for the authorities as well. But had any of these family members made room in their hearts and homes for Lashaun and her children, it is very likely that this would never have happened!

This is a shame that brings me nearly to tears. And I am basically a heartless SOB or it would have brought me all the way to tears. Shame on the family and authorities who failed Lashaun Harris and her children. All four of them, Lashaun and her three children, victims of neglect and abuse.

Bless you, Lashaun. My heart goes out to you. I hope that you can find the support to get you through the terrible pain you must be enduring now. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive yourself. Understand that what happened was a terrible thing but the response must be treatment and support not punishment and more pain.